Which to use
“fete” is a noun and “fey” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,639
- “fete” frequency rank
- #29,654
- “fey” frequency rank
- 72293
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fete | fey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A festival open to the public, the proceeds from which are often given to charity. | About to die; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death. |
Where the eye mixes fete and fey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fete vs fey
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fete is /feɪt/ while fey is /feɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fete is recorded at frequency rank #42,639, classified as anoun, pronounced /feɪt/. fey is at rank #29,654, tagged as anadj, pronounced /feɪ/.
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 72293, this pair ranks #43,544 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fete vs fey
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fete": t. Private to "fey": y.
"fete" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fete ← efte · fette · ffete · ftee
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fete" and "fey" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fete" vs "fey" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fete" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #43,544 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fete" and "fey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fenn vs fete". 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 #43,544 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.