Which to use
“fouler” and “frôler” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,779
- “fouler” frequency rank
- #35,520
- “frôler” frequency rank
- 65299
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fouler | frôler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Presser quelque chose qui cède, avec les pieds, les mains ou à l’aide d’un mécanisme. | Toucher légèrement en passant, ou passer très près, effleurer. |
Where the eye mixes fouler and frôler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fouler (CVVCVC) and frôler (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: fouler vs frôler
A purely visual mix-up. fouler (\fu.le\) and frôler (\fʁo.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65299, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fouler is recorded at frequency rank #29,779, classified as averb, pronounced \fu.le\. frôler is at rank #35,520, tagged as averb, pronounced \fʁo.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 65299, this pair ranks #72,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fouler vs frôler
Shared letters: eflr. Private to "fouler": ou. Private to "frôler": ô.
"fouler" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "frôler" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fouler ← ffouler · foluer · fouelr · foulerr · fouller · foulre · fuoler · ofuler
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fouler" and "frôler" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fouler" vs "frôler" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fouler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frôler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #72,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fouler" and "frôler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fioles vs frôler". 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 #72,989 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.