Which to use
“jouais” and “joui” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,296
- “jouais” frequency rank
- #30,676
- “joui” frequency rank
- 44972
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | jouais | joui |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de jouer. | Participe passé masculin singulier de jouir. |
Where the eye mixes jouais and joui
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. jouais runs 6 letters (CVVVVC) against joui's 4 (CVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between jouais and joui
A purely visual mix-up. jouais (\ʒwɛ\) and joui (\ʒwi\) 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 44972, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
jouais is recorded at frequency rank #14,296, classified as averb, pronounced \ʒwɛ\. joui is at rank #30,676, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʒwi\.
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 44972, this pair ranks #206,393 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of jouais vs joui
Shared letters: ijou. Private to "jouais": as. Private to "joui": -.
"jouais" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC · "joui" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "jouais" and "joui" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "jouais" vs "joui" - 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 "jouais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "joui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #206,393 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "jouais" and "joui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jor vs joui". 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 #206,393 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.