Which to use
“fourbe” and “fournie” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,010
- “fourbe” frequency rank
- #10,506
- “fournie” frequency rank
- 36516
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fourbe | fournie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui emploie, pour tromper, une adresse perfide. | Féminin singulier de fourni. |
Where the eye mixes fourbe and fournie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fourbe runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against fournie's 7 (CVVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fourbe with fournie
A purely visual mix-up. fourbe (\fuʁb\) and fournie (\fuʁ.ni\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fourbe is recorded at frequency rank #26,010, classified as anadj, pronounced \fuʁb\. fournie is at rank #10,506, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fuʁ.ni\.
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 36516, this pair ranks #269,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fourbe vs fournie
Shared letters: eforu. Private to "fourbe": b. Private to "fournie": in.
"fourbe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "fournie" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fourbe" for "fournie" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fourbe" or "fournie" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fourbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fournie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #269,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fourbe" and "fournie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fourbe vs fournée". 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 #269,043 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.