Which to use
“fentes” and “fête” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,261
- “fentes” frequency rank
- #943
- “fête” frequency rank
- 34204
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fentes | fête |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fente. | Jour consacré particulièrement à des actes de religion, cérémonies religieuses par lesquelles on célèbre ce jour. |
Where the eye mixes fentes and fête
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fentes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against fête's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fentes with fête
A purely visual mix-up. fentes (\fɑ̃t\) and fête (\fɛt\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34204, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fentes is recorded at frequency rank #33,261, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɑ̃t\. fête is at rank #943, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛt\.
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 34204, this pair ranks #285,445 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fentes vs fête
Shared letters: eft. Private to "fentes": ns. Private to "fête": ê.
"fentes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fête" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fentes ← efntes · fenets · fenntes · fentess · fentse · fenttes · fetnes · ffentes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fentes" and "fête" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fentes" vs "fête" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fentes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fête" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #285,445 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fentes" and "fête" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fentes vs fontes". 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 #285,445 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.