Which to use
“fort” and “foutu” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #380
- “fort” frequency rank
- #4,152
- “foutu” frequency rank
- 4532
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fort | foutu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Costaud, robuste, vigoureux. | Hors d’usage, cassé. |
Where the eye mixes fort and foutu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fort with foutu
A purely visual mix-up. fort (\fɔʁ\) and foutu (\fu.ty\) 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 4532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fort is recorded at frequency rank #380, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɔʁ\. foutu is at rank #4,152, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fu.ty\.
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 4532, this pair ranks #431,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fort vs foutu
Shared letters: fot. Private to "fort": r. Private to "foutu": u.
"fort" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "foutu" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fort" for "foutu" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fort" or "foutu"?
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 "fort" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foutu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,368 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fort" and "foutu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouets vs foutu". 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 #431,368 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.