Which to use
“feu” and “flue” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,641
- “feu” frequency rank
- #38,401
- “flue” frequency rank
- 82042
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feu | flue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Land held in feudal tenure. | A pipe or duct that carries gaseous combustion products away from the point of combustion (such as a furnace). |
Where the eye mixes feu and flue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. feu runs 3 letters (CVV) against flue's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: feu vs flue
A purely visual mix-up. feu (/fjuː/) and flue (/fluː/) 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 82042, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feu is recorded at frequency rank #43,641, classified as anoun, pronounced /fjuː/. flue is at rank #38,401, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fluː/.
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 82042, this pair ranks #16,526 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of feu vs flue
Shared letters: efu. Private to "feu": -. Private to "flue": l.
"feu" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "flue" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- flue ← fflue · fleu · fllue · lfue
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "feu" and "flue" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "feu" or "flue"?
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 "feu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #16,526 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feu" and "flue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feu vs foh". 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 #16,526 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.