Which to use
“foutage” is a noun and “foute” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,291
- “foutage” frequency rank
- #24,598
- “foute” frequency rank
- 43889
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foutage | foute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de foutre (la merde), de se foutre (de la gueule de quelqu'un), etc. | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de foutre. |
Where the eye mixes foutage and foute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses foutage with foute
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foutage is \fu.taʒ\ while foute is \fut\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foutage is recorded at frequency rank #19,291, classified as anoun, pronounced \fu.taʒ\. foute is at rank #24,598, tagged as averb, pronounced \fut\.
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 43889, this pair ranks #214,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foutage vs foute
Shared letters: efotu. Private to "foutage": ag. Private to "foute": -.
"foutage" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV · "foute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foutage" and "foute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "foutage" or "foute" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "foutage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #214,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foutage" and "foute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouets vs foute". 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 #214,608 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.