Which to use
“foule” is a noun and “frêle” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,616
- “foule” frequency rank
- #31,505
- “frêle” frequency rank
- 34121
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foule | frêle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de fouler les draps. On dit plutôt foulage de nos jours. | Qui a peu de solidité, de résistance. |
Where the eye mixes foule and frêle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: foule vs frêle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foule is \ful\ while frêle is \fʁɛl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foule is recorded at frequency rank #2,616, classified as anoun, pronounced \ful\. frêle is at rank #31,505, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fʁɛl\.
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 34121, this pair ranks #286,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foule vs frêle
Shared letters: efl. Private to "foule": ou. Private to "frêle": rê.
"foule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "frêle" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- foule ← ffoule · folue · fouel · foulle · fuole · ofule
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foule" and "frêle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "foule" vs "frêle" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "foule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frêle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #286,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foule" and "frêle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs frêle". 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 #286,005 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.