Which to use
“fosse” and “frousse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,964
- “fosse” frequency rank
- #45,059
- “frousse” frequency rank
- 53023
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fosse | frousse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cavité dans le sol, le plus souvent artificielle. | Peur. |
Where the eye mixes fosse and frousse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fosse runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against frousse's 7 (CCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fosse vs frousse
A purely visual mix-up. fosse (\fos\) and frousse (\fʁus\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fosse is recorded at frequency rank #7,964, classified as anoun, pronounced \fos\. frousse is at rank #45,059, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁus\.
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 53023, this pair ranks #143,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fosse vs frousse
Shared letters: efos. Private to "fosse": -. Private to "frousse": ru.
"fosse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "frousse" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fosse" and "frousse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fosse" or "frousse"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fosse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frousse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #143,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fosse" and "frousse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fraisse vs frousse". 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 #143,613 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.