Which to use
“forain” and “foreign” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,770
- “forain” frequency rank
- #21,945
- “foreign” frequency rank
- 62715
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forain | foreign |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas du lieu, étranger. | Étranger. |
Where the eye mixes forain and foreign
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: forain vs foreign
A purely visual mix-up. forain (\fɔ.ʁɛ̃\) and foreign (\ˈfɔɹ.ən\) 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 62715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forain is recorded at frequency rank #40,770, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔ.ʁɛ̃\. foreign is at rank #21,945, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈfɔɹ.ən\.
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 62715, this pair ranks #85,698 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of forain vs foreign
Shared letters: finor. Private to "forain": a. Private to "foreign": eg.
"forain" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "foreign" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "forain" and "foreign" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "forain" vs "foreign" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "forain" and "foreign" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "forain" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foreign" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #85,698 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forain" and "foreign" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forain vs forman". 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 #85,698 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.