Which to use
“feindre” and “fendre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,810
- “feindre” frequency rank
- #31,490
- “fendre” frequency rank
- 69300
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feindre | fendre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Présenter une chose comme réelle en lui donnant une fausse apparence. | Diviser, séparer, couper en long ou en large, ou de toute autre manière. |
Where the eye mixes feindre and fendre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. feindre runs 7 letters (CVVCCCV) against fendre's 6 (CVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between feindre and fendre
A purely visual mix-up. feindre (\fɛ̃dʁ\) and fendre (\fɑ̃dʁ\) 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 69300, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feindre is recorded at frequency rank #37,810, classified as averb, pronounced \fɛ̃dʁ\. fendre is at rank #31,490, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɑ̃dʁ\.
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 69300, this pair ranks #55,666 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of feindre vs fendre
Shared letters: defnr. Private to "feindre": i. Private to "fendre": -.
"feindre" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV · "fendre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "feindre" for "fendre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "feindre" or "fendre"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "feindre" and "fendre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "feindre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fendre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,666 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feindre" and "fendre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feindre vs fendue". 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 #55,666 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.