Which to use
“fouillent” is a verb and “fouilles” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,466
- “fouillent” frequency rank
- #8,712
- “fouilles” frequency rank
- 53178
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fouillent | fouilles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de fouiller. | Pluriel de fouille. |
Same sound, different letters: fouillent vs fouilles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. fouillent runs 9 letters (CVVVCCVCC) against fouilles's 8 (CVVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - fouillent and fouilles
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fouillent and fouilles carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fuj\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53178, 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\. fouilles is at rank #8,712, tagged as anoun, 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 53178, this pair ranks #142,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fouillent vs fouilles
Shared letters: efilou. Private to "fouillent": nt. Private to "fouilles": s.
"fouillent" · 9 letters · shape CVVVCCVCC · "fouilles" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fouillent" for "fouilles" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fouillent" vs "fouilles" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "fouillent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #142,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fouillent" and "fouilles" 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 #142,547 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.