foutevsfoutuesConfusable pair

Which to use

“foute” and “foutues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,598
“foute” frequency rank
#29,361
“foutues” frequency rank
53959
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foute foutues
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de foutre. Participe passé féminin pluriel de foutre.

Where the eye mixes foute and foutues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. foute runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against foutues's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
foute
7 ch
foutues

Why the eye confuses foute with foutues

A purely visual mix-up. foute (\fut\) and foutues (\fu.ty\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53959, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foute is recorded at frequency rank #24,598, classified as averb, pronounced \fut\. foutues is at rank #29,361, tagged as averb, pronounced \fu.ty\.

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 53959, this pair ranks #137,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foute vs foutues

Shared letters: efotu. Private to "foute": -. Private to "foutues": s.

"foute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "foutues" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foute ← ffoute · fotue · foutte · fuote · ofute
  • foutues ← ffoutues · fotuues · fouteus · fouttues · foutuess · foutuse · fouutes · fuotues

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foute" and "foutues" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fut\ versus \fu.ty\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "foute" or "foutues"?
"foute" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,598 in our French list, against #29,361 for "foutues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "foute" and "foutues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "foute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "foutues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #137,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foute" and "foutues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foulées vs foutues". 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 #137,287 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list