Which to use
“Fee” and “fèves” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,653
- “Fee” frequency rank
- #26,017
- “fèves” frequency rank
- 75670
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Fee | fèves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fée. | Pluriel de fève. |
Where the eye mixes Fee and fèves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Fee runs 3 letters (CVV) against fèves's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses Fee with fèves
A purely visual mix-up. Fee (\feː\) and fèves (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75670, 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\. fèves is at rank #26,017, 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 75670, this pair ranks #33,365 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Fee vs fèves
Shared letters: ef. Private to "Fee": -. Private to "fèves": svè.
"Fee" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "fèves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Fee" and "fèves" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "Fee" vs "fèves" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Fee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fèves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #33,365 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Fee" and "fèves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs FPR". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #33,365 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.