Which to use
“fear” and “fléau” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,681
- “fear” frequency rank
- #10,502
- “fléau” frequency rank
- 44183
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fear | fléau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Peur. | Instrument composé de deux bâtons attachés l’un à l’autre à leur bout par un lien flexible, et qui sert à battre le grain pour le séparer de la tige et de l'épi, à la manière d’un fouet rigide. L’un des deux bâtons est le manche de l’outil, l’autre en est la lame. |
Where the eye mixes fear and fléau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fear runs 4 letters (CVVC) against fléau's 5 (CCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fear and fléau
A purely visual mix-up. fear (\ˈfɪə(ɹ)\) and fléau (\fle.o\) 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 44183, 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)\. fléau is at rank #10,502, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fle.o\.
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 44183, this pair ranks #212,402 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fear vs fléau
Shared letters: af. Private to "fear": er. Private to "fléau": lué.
"fear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fléau" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fear ← efar · faer · fearr · ffear
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fear" and "fléau" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fear" or "fléau"?
What to do next
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 "fléau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #212,402 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fear" and "fléau" 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 #212,402 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.