Which to use
“fouille” is a noun and “fouillent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,056
- “fouille” frequency rank
- #44,466
- “fouillent” frequency rank
- 55522
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fouille | fouillent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ouverture que l’on pratique dans la terre pour mettre à découvert ce qui y est enfermé ou pour faire les fondations d’une maison, pour creuser une mine, un canal, etc. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de fouiller. |
Same sound, different letters: fouille vs fouillent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. fouille runs 7 letters (CVVVCCV) against fouillent's 9 (CVVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: fouille vs fouillent
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fouille and fouillent carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fuj\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fouille” sits inside “fouillent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55522, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fouille is recorded at frequency rank #11,056, classified as anoun, pronounced \fuj\. fouillent is at rank #44,466, tagged as averb, pronounced \fuj\.
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 55522, this pair ranks #126,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fouille vs fouillent
Shared letters: efilou. Private to "fouille": -. Private to "fouillent": nt.
"fouille" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV · "fouillent" · 9 letters · shape CVVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fouille" and "fouillent" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fouille" or "fouillent"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "fouille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouillent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #126,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fouille" and "fouillent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouillée vs fouillent". 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 #126,951 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.