fouilléevsfouillentWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,848
“fouillée” frequency rank
#44,466
“fouillent” frequency rank
81314
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fouillée fouillent
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de fouiller. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de fouiller.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fouillée and fouillent apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
fouillée
9 ch
fouillent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fouillée (\fu.je\) and fouillent (\fuj\) 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 81314, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fouillée is recorded at frequency rank #36,848, classified as averb, pronounced \fu.je\. 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 81314, this pair ranks #19,013 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fouillée vs fouillent

Shared letters: efilou. Private to "fouillée": é. Private to "fouillent": nt.

"fouillée" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVV  ·  "fouillent" · 9 letters · shape CVVVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fouillentffouillent · foiullent · fouilelnt · fouilent · fouillennt · fouillentt · fouilletn · fouillnet

Frequency comparison

fouillée#36,848
fouillent#44,466

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fouillée" and "fouillent" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fu.je\ versus \fuj\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fouillée" or "fouillent"?
"fouillée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,848 in our French list, against #44,466 for "fouillent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fouillée vs fouillent

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 “fouillée” 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