fetevsFTSEWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fete is a noun, FTSE is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fete” is a noun and “FTSE” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,639
“fete” frequency rank
#38,851
“FTSE” frequency rank
81490
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fete FTSE
Definition A festival open to the public, the proceeds from which are often given to charity. Financial Times and Stock Exchange.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fete and FTSE apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
fete
4 ch
FTSE

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fete is /feɪt/ while FTSE is /ˈfʊt.si/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81490, 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/. FTSE is at rank #38,851, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈfʊt.si/.

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 81490, this pair ranks #17,569 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fete vs FTSE

Shared letters: eft. Private to "fete": -. Private to "FTSE": s.

"fete" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "FTSE" · 4 letters · shape CCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feteefte · fette · ffete · ftee
  • FTSEfftse · fste · ftes · ftsse · fttse · tfse

Frequency comparison

fete#42,639
FTSE#38,851

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fete" and "FTSE" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fete" is a noun and "FTSE" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fete" or "FTSE"?
"FTSE" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,851 in our English list, against #42,639 for "fete". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fete vs FTSE

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “fete”; for a name, it's “FTSE”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fete” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list