Which to use
“fouille” and “foule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,056
- “fouille” frequency rank
- #2,616
- “foule” frequency rank
- 13672
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fouille | foule |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Action de fouler les draps. On dit plutôt foulage de nos jours. |
Where the eye mixes fouille and foule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fouille vs foule
A purely visual mix-up. fouille (\fuj\) and foule (\ful\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13672, 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\. foule is at rank #2,616, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ful\.
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 13672, this pair ranks #400,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fouille vs foule
Shared letters: eflou. Private to "fouille": i. Private to "foule": -.
"fouille" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV · "foule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fouille" and "foule" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fouille" vs "foule" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fouille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fouille" and "foule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouille vs fourmille". 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 #400,028 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.