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 eye mixes fougères and foulées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fougères runs 8 letters (CVVCVCVC) against foulées's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fougères with foulées
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": lé.
"fougères" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCVC · "foulées" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fougères" for "foulées" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fougères" or "foulées" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fougères" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foulées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,132 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fougères" and "foulées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouets vs foulées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #59,132 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.