fourrervsfourrièreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fourrer is a verb, fourrière is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fourrer” is a verb and “fourrière” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,274
“fourrer” frequency rank
#27,071
“fourrière” frequency rank
49345
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fourrer fourrière
Definition Introduire, mettre dans. Endroit où l’on conservait le fourrage et le combustible tel que le bois et le charbon.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fourrer and fourrière apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
fourrer
9 ch
fourrière

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fourrer is \fu.ʁe\ while fourrière is \fu.ʁjɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49345, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fourrer is recorded at frequency rank #22,274, classified as averb, pronounced \fu.ʁe\. fourrière is at rank #27,071, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fu.ʁjɛʁ\.

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 49345, this pair ranks #171,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fourrer vs fourrière

Shared letters: eforu. Private to "fourrer": -. Private to "fourrière": .

"fourrer" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "fourrière" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fourrerffourrer · forurer · fourer · fourerr · fourrerr · fourrre · fuorrer · ofurrer

Frequency comparison

fourrer#22,274
fourrière#27,071

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fourrer" and "fourrière" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fourrer" is a verb and "fourrière" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fourrer" or "fourrière"?
"fourrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,274 in our French list, against #27,071 for "fourrière". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fourrer vs fourrière

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “fourrer”; for a noun, it's “fourrière”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fourrer” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list