Which to use
“fouilles” and “foules” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,712
- “fouilles” frequency rank
- #13,599
- “foules” frequency rank
- 22311
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fouilles | foules |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fouille. | Pluriel de foule. |
Where the eye mixes fouilles and foules
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. fouilles runs 8 letters (CVVVCCVC) against foules's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fouilles and foules
A purely visual mix-up. fouilles (\fuj\) and foules (\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 22311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fouilles is recorded at frequency rank #8,712, classified as anoun, pronounced \fuj\. foules is at rank #13,599, 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 22311, this pair ranks #358,680 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fouilles vs foules
Shared letters: eflosu. Private to "fouilles": i. Private to "foules": -.
"fouilles" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC · "foules" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fouilles" and "foules" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fouilles" or "foules"?
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 "fouilles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foules" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #358,680 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fouilles" and "foules" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouets vs foules". 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 #358,680 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.