Which to use
“fougue” and “fouine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,218
- “fougue” frequency rank
- #26,730
- “fouine” frequency rank
- 49948
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fougue | fouine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ardeur naturelle ; grande impétuosité. | Espèce de mammifère carnassier, de la famille des mustélidés (cf. martre, furet, putois) au corps mince et au museau allongé. |
Where the eye mixes fougue and fouine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fougue (CVVCVV) and fouine (CVVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: fougue vs fouine
A purely visual mix-up. fougue (\fuɡ\) and fouine (\fwin\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49948, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fougue is recorded at frequency rank #23,218, classified as anoun, pronounced \fuɡ\. fouine is at rank #26,730, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fwin\.
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 49948, this pair ranks #166,560 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fougue vs fouine
Shared letters: efou. Private to "fougue": g. Private to "fouine": in.
"fougue" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "fouine" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fougue" for "fouine" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fougue" or "fouine"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fougue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,560 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fougue" and "fouine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouine vs fouiner". 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 #166,560 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.