Which to use
“fouette” and “foutre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,885
- “fouette” frequency rank
- #1,867
- “foutre” frequency rank
- 44752
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fouette | foutre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de fouetter. | Baiser ; posséder sexuellement. |
Where the eye mixes fouette and foutre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fouette runs 7 letters (CVVVCCV) against foutre's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fouette vs foutre
A purely visual mix-up. fouette (\fwɛt\) and foutre (\futʁ\) 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 44752, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fouette is recorded at frequency rank #42,885, classified as averb, pronounced \fwɛt\. foutre is at rank #1,867, tagged as averb, pronounced \futʁ\.
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 44752, this pair ranks #208,098 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fouette vs foutre
Shared letters: efotu. Private to "fouette": -. Private to "foutre": r.
"fouette" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV · "foutre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fouette" for "foutre" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fouette" vs "foutre" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fouette" and "foutre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fouette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foutre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #208,098 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fouette" and "foutre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouets vs fouette". 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 #208,098 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.