Which to use
“foraine” and “fouine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,069
- “foraine” frequency rank
- #26,730
- “fouine” frequency rank
- 53799
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foraine | fouine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Entrepreneuse de spectacles et jeux divers sur les fêtes foraines. | Espèce de mammifère carnassier, de la famille des mustélidés (cf. martre, furet, putois) au corps mince et au museau allongé. |
Where the eye mixes foraine and fouine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. foraine runs 7 letters (CVCVVCV) against fouine's 6 (CVVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses foraine with fouine
A purely visual mix-up. foraine (\fɔ.ʁɛn\) and fouine (\fwin\) 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 53799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foraine is recorded at frequency rank #27,069, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ.ʁɛn\. fouine is at rank #26,730, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fwin\.
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 53799, this pair ranks #138,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foraine vs fouine
Shared letters: efino. Private to "foraine": ar. Private to "fouine": u.
"foraine" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV · "fouine" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foraine" for "fouine" ever safe?
Which is more common, "foraine" or "fouine"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "foraine" and "fouine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "foraine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #138,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foraine" and "fouine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouine vs fouiner". 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 #138,283 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.