Which to use
“jouais” and “jouis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,296
- “jouais” frequency rank
- #36,019
- “jouis” frequency rank
- 50315
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | jouais | jouis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de jouer. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de jouir. |
Where the eye mixes jouais and jouis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. jouais runs 6 letters (CVVVVC) against jouis's 5 (CVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses jouais with jouis
A purely visual mix-up. jouais (\ʒwɛ\) and jouis (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50315, 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\. jouis is at rank #36,019, 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 50315, this pair ranks #163,624 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of jouais vs jouis
Shared letters: ijosu. Private to "jouais": a. Private to "jouis": -.
"jouais" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC · "jouis" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "jouais" and "jouis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "jouais" or "jouis"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "jouais" and "jouis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "jouais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "jouis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,624 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "jouais" and "jouis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Josie vs jouis". 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 #163,624 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.