fentevsfeutreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,624
“fente” frequency rank
#24,591
“feutre” frequency rank
46215
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fente feutre
Definition Division en long pratiquée à un corps, à une masse quelconque. Étoffe non tissée constituée de poils ou de fibres de laine agglomérées ensemble par soufflage, et mise sous pression avec ébouillantage dans la forme, ou, en fabrication traditionnelle mongole par mouillage et foulage.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fente and feutre apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
fente
6 ch
feutre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fente (\fɑ̃t\) and feutre (\føtʁ\) 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 46215, 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\. feutre is at rank #24,591, tagged as anoun, pronounced \føtʁ\.

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 46215, this pair ranks #196,705 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fente vs feutre

Shared letters: eft. Private to "fente": n. Private to "feutre": ru.

"fente" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "feutre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fenteefnte · fenet · fennte · fentte · fetne · ffente · fnete
  • feutreefutre · feture · feurte · feuter · feutrre · feuttre · ffeutre · fuetre

Frequency comparison

fente#21,624
feutre#24,591

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fente" and "feutre" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fɑ̃t\ versus \føtʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fente" or "feutre"?
"fente" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,624 in our French list, against #24,591 for "feutre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fente vs feutre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fente” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list