Which to use
“feed” and “fle” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,809
- “feed” frequency rank
- #39,300
- “fle” frequency rank
- 67109
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feed | fle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nourrir, alimenter. | Dormir. |
Where the eye mixes feed and fle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses feed with fle
A purely visual mix-up. feed (\fiːd\) and fle (\ˈfle\) 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 67109, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feed is recorded at frequency rank #27,809, classified as averb, pronounced \fiːd\. fle is at rank #39,300, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈfle\.
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 67109, this pair ranks #64,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of feed vs fle
Shared letters: ef. Private to "feed": d. Private to "fle": l.
"feed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fle" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- feed ← efed · fede · feedd · ffeed
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "feed" for "fle" ever safe?
Which is more common, "feed" or "fle"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "feed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #64,858 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feed" and "fle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filez vs fle". 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 #64,858 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.