Which to use
“foudres” and “foules” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,217
- “foudres” frequency rank
- #13,599
- “foules” frequency rank
- 36816
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foudres | foules |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de foudre. | Pluriel de foule. |
Where the eye mixes foudres and foules
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. foudres runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against foules's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses foudres with foules
A purely visual mix-up. foudres (\fudʁ\) and foules (\ful\) 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 36816, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foudres is recorded at frequency rank #23,217, classified as anoun, pronounced \fudʁ\. foules is at rank #13,599, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ful\.
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 36816, this pair ranks #266,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foudres vs foules
Shared letters: efosu. Private to "foudres": dr. Private to "foules": l.
"foudres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "foules" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foudres" for "foules" ever safe?
Frequency check: "foudres" vs "foules" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "foudres" and "foules" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "foudres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foules" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #266,939 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foudres" and "foules" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foudres vs foulées". 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 #266,939 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.