Which to use
“four” and “fourmi” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,150
- “four” frequency rank
- #21,019
- “fourmi” frequency rank
- 25169
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | four | fourmi |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour le chiffre 4. | Petit insecte social sans ailes (sauf individus sexués), vivant en colonies dans des fourmilières. C’est un hyménoptère qui possède en particulier des antennes coudées et un pétiole. |
Where the eye mixes four and fourmi
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. four runs 4 letters (CVVC) against fourmi's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: four vs fourmi
A purely visual mix-up. four (\ˈfoa\) and fourmi (\fuʁ.mi\) 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 extra letter(s) - “four” sits inside “fourmi”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
four is recorded at frequency rank #4,150, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈfoa\. fourmi is at rank #21,019, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fuʁ.mi\.
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 25169, this pair ranks #342,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of four vs fourmi
Shared letters: foru. Private to "four": -. Private to "fourmi": im.
"four" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fourmi" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "four" and "fourmi" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "four" vs "fourmi" - which ranks higher?
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 "four" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fourmi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #342,396 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "four" and "fourmi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "four vs FPR". 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 #342,396 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.