froidesvsfroidsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,775
“froides” frequency rank
#13,796
“froids” frequency rank
25571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature froides froids
Definition Féminin pluriel de froid. Masculin pluriel de froid.

Where the eye mixes froides and froids

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. froides runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against froids's 6 (CCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
froides
6 ch
froids

Visual trap between froides and froids

A purely visual mix-up. froides (\fʁwad\) and froids (\fʁwa\) 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 25571, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

froides is recorded at frequency rank #11,775, classified as anadj, pronounced \fʁwad\. froids is at rank #13,796, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fʁwa\.

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 25571, this pair ranks #340,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of froides vs froids

Shared letters: dfiors. Private to "froides": e. Private to "froids": -.

"froides" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "froids" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • froidesffroides · forides · friodes · frodies · froiddes · froidess · froidse · froieds
  • froidsffroids · forids · friods · frodis · froidds · froidss · froisd · frroids

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "froides" and "froids" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fʁwad\ versus \fʁwa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "froides" or "froids"?
"froides" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,775 in our French list, against #13,796 for "froids". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "froides" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "froids" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #340,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "froides" and "froids" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foins vs froids". 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 #340,094 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