Which to use
“fouillent” and “fouiller” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,466
- “fouillent” frequency rank
- #11,590
- “fouiller” frequency rank
- 56056
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fouillent | fouiller |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de fouiller. | Pratiquer un creux dans la terre. |
Where the eye mixes fouillent and fouiller
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. fouillent runs 9 letters (CVVVCCVCC) against fouiller's 8 (CVVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fouillent and fouiller
A purely visual mix-up. fouillent (\fuj\) and fouiller (\fu.je\) 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 56056, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fouillent is recorded at frequency rank #44,466, classified as averb, pronounced \fuj\. fouiller is at rank #11,590, tagged as averb, pronounced \fu.je\.
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 56056, this pair ranks #123,509 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fouillent vs fouiller
Shared letters: efilou. Private to "fouillent": nt. Private to "fouiller": r.
"fouillent" · 9 letters · shape CVVVCCVCC · "fouiller" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fouillent" and "fouiller" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fouillent" or "fouiller"?
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 "fouillent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouiller" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #123,509 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fouillent" and "fouiller" 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 #123,509 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.