follevsfouléeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,074
“folle” frequency rank
#10,504
“foulée” frequency rank
13578
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature folle foulée
Definition Filet à larges mailles, tendu lâche. Temps pendant lequel, dans la marche, le pied du cheval pose sur le sol.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
folle
6 ch
foulée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. folle (\fɔl\) and foulée (\fu.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13578, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

folle is recorded at frequency rank #3,074, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔl\. foulée is at rank #10,504, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fu.le\.

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 13578, this pair ranks #400,415 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of folle vs foulée

Shared letters: eflo. Private to "folle": -. Private to "foulée": .

"folle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "foulée" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • folleffolle · flole · fole · folel · oflle

Frequency comparison

folle#3,074
foulée#10,504

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "folle" and "foulée" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fɔl\ versus \fu.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "folle" or "foulée"?
"folle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,074 in our French list, against #10,504 for "foulée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering folle vs foulée

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 “folle” 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