Which to use
“fontaine” and “foutaise” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,671
- “fontaine” frequency rank
- #36,850
- “foutaise” frequency rank
- 41521
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fontaine | foutaise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Eau vive qui sort de terre. | Chose sans importance, sans utilité, sans intérêt, dénuée de sens. |
Where the eye mixes fontaine and foutaise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. fontaine (CVCCVVCV) and foutaise (CVVCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses fontaine with foutaise
A purely visual mix-up. fontaine (\fɔ̃.tɛn\) and foutaise (\fu.tɛz\) 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 41521, 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\. foutaise is at rank #36,850, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fu.tɛz\.
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 41521, this pair ranks #232,488 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fontaine vs foutaise
Shared letters: aefiot. Private to "fontaine": n. Private to "foutaise": su.
"fontaine" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV · "foutaise" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fontaine" and "foutaise" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fontaine" or "foutaise"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fontaine" and "foutaise" 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 "foutaise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,488 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fontaine" and "foutaise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foutaise vs foutaises". 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 #232,488 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.