Which to use
“fosses” is a noun and “foster” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,882
- “fosses” frequency rank
- #17,141
- “foster” frequency rank
- 34023
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fosses | foster |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fosse. | Alimenter, nourrir. |
Where the eye mixes fosses and foster
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fosses and foster follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between fosses and foster
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fosses is \fos\ while foster is \ˈfɒs.tə\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fosses is recorded at frequency rank #16,882, classified as anoun, pronounced \fos\. foster is at rank #17,141, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈfɒs.tə\.
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 34023, this pair ranks #286,671 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fosses vs foster
Shared letters: efos. Private to "fosses": -. Private to "foster": rt.
"fosses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "foster" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fosses" and "foster" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fosses" or "foster" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fosses" and "foster" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fosses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foster" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #286,671 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fosses" and "foster" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs fosses". 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 #286,671 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.