Which to use
“folle” and “foules” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,074
- “folle” frequency rank
- #13,599
- “foules” frequency rank
- 16673
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | folle | foules |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Filet à larges mailles, tendu lâche. | Pluriel de foule. |
Where the eye mixes folle and foules
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between folle and foules
A purely visual mix-up. folle (\fɔl\) and foules (\ful\) 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 16673, 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\. foules is at rank #13,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ful\.
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 16673, this pair ranks #386,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of folle vs foules
Shared letters: eflo. Private to "folle": -. Private to "foules": su.
"folle" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "foules" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "folle" and "foules" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "folle" or "foules"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "folle" and "foules" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "folle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foules" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #386,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "folle" and "foules" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouets vs foules". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #386,779 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.