Which to use
“forêt” and “foyer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,078
- “forêt” frequency rank
- #3,260
- “foyer” frequency rank
- 5338
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | forêt | foyer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vaste terrain couvert de bois, de nombreux arbres proches. | (Selon certains auteurs) Partie d’une cheminée se trouvant au devant de l’âtre (on brûle le bois), Il se trouve donc en dehors des jambages de la cheminée. Il est souvent constitué de pierres ou de briques si le sol de la pièce est en parquet. |
Where the eye mixes forêt and foyer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses forêt with foyer
A purely visual mix-up. forêt (\fɔ.ʁɛ\) and foyer (\fwa.je\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5338, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
forêt is recorded at frequency rank #2,078, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ.ʁɛ\. foyer is at rank #3,260, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fwa.je\.
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 5338, this pair ranks #429,292 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of forêt vs foyer
Shared letters: for. Private to "forêt": tê. Private to "foyer": ey.
"forêt" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "foyer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- foyer ← ffoyer · foeyr · foyerr · foyre · foyyer · fyoer · ofyer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "forêt" and "foyer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "forêt" vs "foyer" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "forêt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foyer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,292 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "forêt" and "foyer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "forêt vs fouets". 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 #429,292 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.