Which to use
“fou” is an adjective and “foute” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,063
- “fou” frequency rank
- #24,598
- “foute” frequency rank
- 25661
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fou | foute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qualifie une personne qui a perdu la raison, qui est atteinte d’aliénation mentale. | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de foutre. |
Where the eye mixes fou and foute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fou vs foute
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fou is \fu\ while foute is \fut\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fou” sits inside “foute”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25661, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fou is recorded at frequency rank #1,063, classified as anadj, pronounced \fu\. 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 25661, this pair ranks #339,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fou vs foute
Shared letters: fou. Private to "fou": -. Private to "foute": et.
"fou" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "foute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- foute ← ffoute · fotue · foutte · fuote · ofute
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fou" and "foute" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fou" vs "foute" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fou" 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 #339,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fou" 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 #339,590 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.