Which to use
“fourches” is a noun and “fournies” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,163
- “fourches” frequency rank
- #10,877
- “fournies” frequency rank
- 41040
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fourches | fournies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fourche. | Féminin pluriel de fourni. |
Where the eye mixes fourches and fournies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. fourches (CVVCCCVC) and fournies (CVVCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between fourches and fournies
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fourches is \fuʁʃ\ while fournies is \fuʁ.ni\. 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 41040, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fourches is recorded at frequency rank #30,163, classified as anoun, pronounced \fuʁʃ\. fournies is at rank #10,877, 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 41040, this pair ranks #236,003 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fourches vs fournies
Shared letters: eforsu. Private to "fourches": ch. Private to "fournies": in.
"fourches" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCVC · "fournies" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fourches" and "fournies" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fourches" or "fournies"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fourches" and "fournies" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fourches" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fournies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,003 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fourches" and "fournies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fourches vs fourrés". 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 #236,003 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.