Which to use
“Fee” and “fève” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,653
- “Fee” frequency rank
- #37,822
- “fève” frequency rank
- 87475
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Fee | fève |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fée. | Nom vernaculaire de Vicia faba, plante herbacées annuelle de la famille des Fabacées (Fabaceae, au port érigé, pouvant atteindre 2 mètre de haut et que l’on cultive pour sa graine comestible. |
Where the eye mixes Fee and fève
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Fee runs 3 letters (CVV) against fève's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Fee with fève
A purely visual mix-up. Fee (\feː\) and fève (\fɛv\) 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 87475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Fee is recorded at frequency rank #49,653, classified as anoun, pronounced \feː\. fève is at rank #37,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛv\.
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 87475, this pair ranks #8,239 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Fee vs fève
Shared letters: ef. Private to "Fee": -. Private to "fève": vè.
"Fee" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "fève" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Fee" for "fève" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "Fee" or "fève" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "Fee" and "fève" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Fee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fève" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,239 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Fee" and "fève" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs FPR". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #8,239 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.