fossesvsfuséesTell them apart

Which to use

“fosses” and “fusées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,882
“fosses” frequency rank
#15,887
“fusées” frequency rank
32769
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fosses fusées
Definition Pluriel de fosse. Pluriel de fusée.

Where the eye mixes fosses and fusées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fosses (CVCCVC) and fusées (CVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
fosses
6 ch
fusées

Look-alike desk: fosses vs fusées

A purely visual mix-up. fosses (\fos\) and fusées (\fy.ze\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32769, 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\. fusées is at rank #15,887, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fy.ze\.

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 32769, this pair ranks #295,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fosses vs fusées

Shared letters: efs. Private to "fosses": o. Private to "fusées": ué.

"fosses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "fusées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fosses ← ffosses · fosess · fossess · fossse · fsoses · ofsses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fosses" and "fusées" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fos\ versus \fy.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fosses" or "fusées"?
"fusées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,887 in our French list, against #16,882 for "fosses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fosses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fusées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #295,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fosses" and "fusées" 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 #295,077 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list