farevsféruWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fare is a noun, féru is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fare” is a noun and “féru” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,039
“fare” frequency rank
#40,777
“féru” frequency rank
85816
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fare féru
Definition Pêche solennelle que les pêcheurs faisaient pour leur fête, vers le mois de mai, et qui fut interdite en 1670, parce qu’elle dépeuplait les rivières. Qui est blessé, frappé de quelque chose.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fare and féru apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
fare
4 ch
féru

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fare is \faʁ\ while féru is \fe.ʁy\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85816, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fare is recorded at frequency rank #45,039, classified as anoun, pronounced \faʁ\. féru is at rank #40,777, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fe.ʁy\.

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 85816, this pair ranks #10,713 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fare vs féru

Shared letters: fr. Private to "fare": ae. Private to "féru": .

"fare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "féru" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fareafre · farre · ffare · frae

Frequency comparison

fare#45,039
féru#40,777

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fare" and "féru" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fare" is a noun and "féru" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fare" or "féru"?
"féru" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,777 in our French list, against #45,039 for "fare". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fare vs féru

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “fare”; for an adjective, it's “féru”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fare” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list