Which to use
“fatal” is an adjective and “fatma” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,774
- “fatal” frequency rank
- #45,610
- “fatma” frequency rank
- 57384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fatal | fatma |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qu’on ne peut éviter, qui doit arriver inévitablement, qui est fixé d’une manière irrévocable. | Femme. |
Where the eye mixes fatal and fatma
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fatal vs fatma
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fatal is \fa.tal\ while fatma is \fat.ma\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fatal is recorded at frequency rank #11,774, classified as anadj, pronounced \fa.tal\. fatma is at rank #45,610, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fat.ma\.
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 57384, this pair ranks #115,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fatal vs fatma
Shared letters: aft. Private to "fatal": l. Private to "fatma": m.
"fatal" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "fatma" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fatal" for "fatma" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fatal" or "fatma"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fatal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fatma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fatal" and "fatma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fatma vs Fatou". 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 #115,354 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.