Which to use
“fentes” and “fèves” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,261
- “fentes” frequency rank
- #26,017
- “fèves” frequency rank
- 59278
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fentes | fèves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fente. | Pluriel de fève. |
Where the eye mixes fentes and fèves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fentes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against fèves's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fentes vs fèves
A purely visual mix-up. fentes (\fɑ̃t\) and fèves (\fɛv\) 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 59278, 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\. fèves is at rank #26,017, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛv\.
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 59278, this pair ranks #104,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fentes vs fèves
Shared letters: efs. Private to "fentes": nt. Private to "fèves": vè.
"fentes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fèves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fentes ← efntes · fenets · fenntes · fentess · fentse · fenttes · fetnes · ffentes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fentes" and "fèves" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fentes" or "fèves" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fentes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fèves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #104,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fentes" and "fèves" 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 #104,065 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.