Which to use
“joui” and “jouir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,676
- “joui” frequency rank
- #9,861
- “jouir” frequency rank
- 40537
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | joui | jouir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier de jouir. | Profiter d’une chose que l’on a, que l’on possède, en goûter le plaisir, l’agrément, etc. |
Where the eye mixes joui and jouir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. joui runs 4 letters (CVVV) against jouir's 5 (CVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses joui with jouir
A purely visual mix-up. joui (\ʒwi\) and jouir (\ʒwiʁ\) 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 extra letter(s) - “joui” sits inside “jouir”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40537, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
joui is recorded at frequency rank #30,676, classified as averb, pronounced \ʒwi\. jouir is at rank #9,861, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʒwiʁ\.
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 40537, this pair ranks #239,757 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of joui vs jouir
Shared letters: ijou. Private to "joui": -. Private to "jouir": r.
"joui" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "jouir" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "joui" for "jouir" ever safe?
Which is more common, "joui" or "jouir"?
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 "joui" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "jouir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,757 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "joui" and "jouir" 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 #239,757 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.