fashionvsfusionTell them apart

Which to use

“fashion” and “fusion” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,582
“fashion” frequency rank
#3,538
“fusion” frequency rank
15120
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fashion fusion
Definition La société élégante, le beau monde. Liquéfaction d’un corps par l’action de la chaleur.

Where the eye mixes fashion and fusion

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fashion runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against fusion's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
fashion
6 ch
fusion

Look-alike desk: fashion vs fusion

A purely visual mix-up. fashion (\fa.ʃœn\) and fusion (\fy.zjɔ̃\) 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 15120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fashion is recorded at frequency rank #11,582, classified as anoun, pronounced \fa.ʃœn\. fusion is at rank #3,538, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fy.zjɔ̃\.

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 15120, this pair ranks #393,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fashion vs fusion

Shared letters: finos. Private to "fashion": ah. Private to "fusion": u.

"fashion" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "fusion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fashion ← afshion · fahsion · fashhion · fashino · fashionn · fashoin · fasihon · fasshion
  • fusion ← ffusion · fsuion · fuison · fusino · fusionn · fusoin · fussion · ufsion

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fashion" and "fusion" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fa.ʃœn\ versus \fy.zjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "fashion" or "fusion" show up more?
"fusion" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,538 in our French list, against #11,582 for "fashion". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fashion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fusion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #393,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fashion" and "fusion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fanion vs fashion". 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 #393,772 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list