Which to use
“fear” and “feux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,681
- “fear” frequency rank
- #3,756
- “feux” frequency rank
- 37437
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fear | feux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Peur. | Feux tricolores. |
Where the eye mixes fear and feux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fear and feux follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses fear with feux
A purely visual mix-up. fear (\ˈfɪə(ɹ)\) and feux (\fø\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37437, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fear is recorded at frequency rank #33,681, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈfɪə(ɹ)\. feux is at rank #3,756, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fø\.
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 37437, this pair ranks #262,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fear vs feux
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fear": ar. Private to "feux": ux.
"fear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "feux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fear" for "feux" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fear" or "feux"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "feux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #262,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fear" and "feux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fear vs Fee". 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 #262,530 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.