fougèresvsfouléesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#22,273
“fougères” frequency rank
#46,180
“foulées” frequency rank
68453
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fougères foulées
Definition Pluriel de fougère. Traces légères que la bête laisse de son pied, en passant sur l’herbe ou sur les feuilles.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fougères and foulées apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
fougères
7 ch
foulées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fougères (\fu.ʒɛʁ\) and foulées (\fu.le\) 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 68453, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fougères is recorded at frequency rank #22,273, classified as anoun, pronounced \fu.ʒɛʁ\. foulées is at rank #46,180, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fu.le\.

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 68453, this pair ranks #59,132 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fougères vs foulées

Shared letters: efosu. Private to "fougères": grè. Private to "foulées": .

"fougères" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC  ·  "foulées" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC

Frequency comparison

fougères#22,273
foulées#46,180

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fougères" and "foulées" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fu.ʒɛʁ\ versus \fu.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fougères" or "foulées"?
"fougères" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,273 in our French list, against #46,180 for "foulées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fougères vs foulées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fougères” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list