fenduvsféruWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“fendu” and “féru” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,435
“fendu” frequency rank
#40,777
“féru” frequency rank
68212
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fendu féru
Definition Qui présente une fente, une fêlure. Qui est blessé, frappé de quelque chose.

Where the eye mixes fendu and féru

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fendu runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against féru's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
fendu
4 ch
féru

Visual trap between fendu and féru

A purely visual mix-up. fendu (\fɑ̃.dy\) and féru (\fe.ʁy\) 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 68212, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fendu is recorded at frequency rank #27,435, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɑ̃.dy\. féru is at rank #40,777, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fe.ʁy\.

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 68212, this pair ranks #60,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fendu vs féru

Shared letters: fu. Private to "fendu": den. Private to "féru": ré.

"fendu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "féru" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fendu ← efndu · fednu · fenddu · fenndu · fenud · ffendu · fnedu

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fendu" and "féru" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\fɑ̃.dy\ versus \fe.ʁy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fendu" or "féru"?
"fendu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,435 in our French list, against #40,777 for "féru". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "fendu" and "féru" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fendu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "féru" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #60,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fendu" and "féru" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs féru". 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 #60,083 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list