Which to use
“fente” and “fesse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,624
- “fente” frequency rank
- #21,625
- “fesse” frequency rank
- 43249
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fente | fesse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Division en long pratiquée à un corps, à une masse quelconque. | Chacune des deux masses charnues situées à la partie postérieure du bassin, chez l’être humain et certains mammifères. |
Where the eye mixes fente and fesse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fente and fesse follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between fente and fesse
A purely visual mix-up. fente (\fɑ̃t\) and fesse (\fɛs\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43249, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fente is recorded at frequency rank #21,624, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɑ̃t\. fesse is at rank #21,625, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛs\.
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 43249, this pair ranks #219,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fente vs fesse
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fente": nt. Private to "fesse": s.
"fente" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fesse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fente" for "fesse" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fente" or "fesse"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fente" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fesse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #219,538 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fente" and "fesse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fesse". 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 #219,538 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.