Which to use
“foutais” and “fumais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,175
- “foutais” frequency rank
- #44,470
- “fumais” frequency rank
- 72645
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foutais | fumais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de foutre. | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de fumer. |
Where the eye mixes foutais and fumais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. foutais runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against fumais's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between foutais and fumais
A purely visual mix-up. foutais (\fu.tɛ\) and fumais (\fy.mɛ\) 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 72645, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foutais is recorded at frequency rank #28,175, classified as averb, pronounced \fu.tɛ\. fumais is at rank #44,470, tagged as averb, pronounced \fy.mɛ\.
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 72645, this pair ranks #43,274 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of foutais vs fumais
Shared letters: afisu. Private to "foutais": ot. Private to "fumais": m.
"foutais" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "fumais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "foutais" and "fumais" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "foutais" vs "fumais" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "foutais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fumais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #43,274 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foutais" and "fumais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fumais vs fuyait". 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 #43,274 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.