Which to use
“fentes” and “fines” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,261
- “fentes” frequency rank
- #7,694
- “fines” frequency rank
- 40955
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fentes | fines |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fente. | Granulat composé d’éléments de très petites dimensions utilisé soit comme charge de remplissage pour augmenter la compacité notamment d'un béton, d'un sol, soit comme constituant de certains liants hydrauliques. |
Where the eye mixes fentes and fines
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fentes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against fines's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fentes with fines
A purely visual mix-up. fentes (\fɑ̃t\) and fines (\fin\) 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 40955, 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\. fines is at rank #7,694, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fin\.
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 40955, this pair ranks #236,694 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fentes vs fines
Shared letters: efns. Private to "fentes": t. Private to "fines": i.
"fentes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fentes" and "fines" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fentes" vs "fines" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fentes" and "fines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fentes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,694 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fentes" and "fines" 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 #236,694 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.