Which to use
“feng” and “fey” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,868
- “feng” frequency rank
- #46,760
- “fey” frequency rank
- 70628
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feng | fey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom de la lettre ʩ utilisée dans les extensions de l’alphabet phonétique international pour représenter une consonne vélo-pharyngeale fricative. | Cône. |
Where the eye mixes feng and fey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. feng runs 4 letters (CVCC) against fey's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between feng and fey
A purely visual mix-up. feng (\fɛŋ\) and fey (\fɛj\) 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 70628, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feng is recorded at frequency rank #23,868, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛŋ\. fey is at rank #46,760, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛj\.
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 70628, this pair ranks #50,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of feng vs fey
Shared letters: ef. Private to "feng": gn. Private to "fey": y.
"feng" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- feng ← efng · fegn · fengg · fenng · ffeng · fneg
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "feng" for "fey" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "feng" or "fey" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "feng" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,660 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feng" and "fey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fey". 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 #50,660 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.