Which to use
“foster” and “foute” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,141
- “foster” frequency rank
- #24,598
- “foute” frequency rank
- 41739
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foster | foute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alimenter, nourrir. | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de foutre. |
Where the eye mixes foster and foute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. foster runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against foute's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between foster and foute
A purely visual mix-up. foster (\ˈfɒs.tə\) and foute (\fut\) 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 41739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foster is recorded at frequency rank #17,141, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈfɒs.tə\. foute is at rank #24,598, tagged as averb, pronounced \fut\.
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 41739, this pair ranks #230,849 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foster vs foute
Shared letters: efot. Private to "foster": rs. Private to "foute": u.
"foster" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "foute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foster" and "foute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "foster" or "foute"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "foster" and "foute" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "foster" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #230,849 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foster" and "foute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouets vs foute". 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 #230,849 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.