Which to use
“fontaine” and “foraine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,671
- “fontaine” frequency rank
- #27,069
- “foraine” frequency rank
- 31740
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fontaine | foraine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Eau vive qui sort de terre. | Entrepreneuse de spectacles et jeux divers sur les fêtes foraines. |
Where the eye mixes fontaine and foraine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. fontaine runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCV) against foraine's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fontaine and foraine
A purely visual mix-up. fontaine (\fɔ̃.tɛn\) and foraine (\fɔ.ʁɛn\) 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 31740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fontaine is recorded at frequency rank #4,671, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃.tɛn\. foraine is at rank #27,069, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ.ʁɛn\.
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 31740, this pair ranks #301,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fontaine vs foraine
Shared letters: aefino. Private to "fontaine": t. Private to "foraine": r.
"fontaine" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV · "foraine" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fontaine" and "foraine" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fontaine" or "foraine"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fontaine" and "foraine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fontaine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foraine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #301,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fontaine" and "foraine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forain vs foraine". 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 #301,858 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.