Which to use
“fouiller” and “fouler” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,590
- “fouiller” frequency rank
- #29,779
- “fouler” frequency rank
- 41369
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fouiller | fouler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pratiquer un creux dans la terre. | Presser quelque chose qui cède, avec les pieds, les mains ou à l’aide d’un mécanisme. |
Where the eye mixes fouiller and fouler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. fouiller runs 8 letters (CVVVCCVC) against fouler's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fouiller and fouler
A purely visual mix-up. fouiller (\fu.je\) and fouler (\fu.le\) 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 41369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fouiller is recorded at frequency rank #11,590, classified as averb, pronounced \fu.je\. fouler is at rank #29,779, tagged as averb, pronounced \fu.le\.
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 41369, this pair ranks #233,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fouiller vs fouler
Shared letters: efloru. Private to "fouiller": i. Private to "fouler": -.
"fouiller" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC · "fouler" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fouiller" and "fouler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fouiller" or "fouler" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fouiller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #233,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fouiller" and "fouler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouiner vs fouler". 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 #233,583 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.