foisonvsfoulonWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“foison” and “foulon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,817
“foison” frequency rank
#40,772
“foulon” frequency rank
78589
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foison foulon
Definition Très grande abondance. Artisan qui foule, qui apprête les draps et autres étoffes de laine.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set foison and foulon apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
foison
6 ch
foulon

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. foison (\fwa.zɔ̃\) and foulon (\fu.lɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78589, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foison is recorded at frequency rank #37,817, classified as anoun, pronounced \fwa.zɔ̃\. foulon is at rank #40,772, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fu.lɔ̃\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 78589, this pair ranks #25,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of foison vs foulon

Shared letters: fno. Private to "foison": is. Private to "foulon": lu.

"foison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "foulon" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foisonffoison · fioson · foiosn · foisno · foisonn · foisson · fosion · ofison
  • foulonffoulon · foluon · foullon · foulno · foulonn · fouoln · fuolon · ofulon

Frequency comparison

foison#37,817
foulon#40,772

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foison" and "foulon" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fwa.zɔ̃\ versus \fu.lɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "foison" or "foulon"?
"foison" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,817 in our French list, against #40,772 for "foulon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering foison vs foulon

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “foison” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list