joievsjokerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,820
“joie” frequency rank
#13,824
“joker” frequency rank
15644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature joie joker
Definition Sentiment de bonheur, de satisfaction vive et intense qui vient du plaisir que l'on a à agir, à accomplir non pas une tâche répétitive, mais de contribuer à un certain progrès qui est empreint d'un caractère spirituel philosophique, scientifique, religieux ou esthétique. Carte qui peut prendre à certains jeux n’importe quelle valeur, selon la volonté de celui qui la détient.

Where the eye mixes joie and joker

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
joie
5 ch
joker

Why the eye confuses joie with joker

A purely visual mix-up. joie (\ʒwa\) and joker (\ʒɔ.kɛʁ\) 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 15644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

joie is recorded at frequency rank #1,820, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒwa\. joker is at rank #13,824, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒɔ.kɛʁ\.

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 15644, this pair ranks #391,476 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of joie vs joker

Shared letters: ejo. Private to "joie": i. Private to "joker": kr.

"joie" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "joker" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • joiejioe · jjoie · joei · ojie
  • jokerjjoker · jkoer · joekr · jokerr · jokker · jokre · ojker

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "joie" and "joker" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʒwa\ versus \ʒɔ.kɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "joie" or "joker" show up more?
"joie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,820 in our French list, against #13,824 for "joker". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "joie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "joker" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #391,476 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "joie" and "joker" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "joker vs jor". 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 #391,476 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