Which to use
“fourbe” is an adjective and “foutre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,010
- “fourbe” frequency rank
- #1,867
- “foutre” frequency rank
- 27877
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fourbe | foutre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui emploie, pour tromper, une adresse perfide. | Baiser ; posséder sexuellement. |
Where the eye mixes fourbe and foutre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fourbe and foutre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses fourbe with foutre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fourbe is \fuʁb\ while foutre is \futʁ\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27877, 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\. foutre is at rank #1,867, tagged as averb, pronounced \futʁ\.
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 27877, this pair ranks #326,216 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fourbe vs foutre
Shared letters: eforu. Private to "fourbe": b. Private to "foutre": t.
"fourbe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "foutre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fourbe" and "foutre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fourbe" or "foutre"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fourbe" and "foutre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fourbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foutre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #326,216 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fourbe" and "foutre" 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 #326,216 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.