fériésvsfièresWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,797
“fériés” frequency rank
#33,689
“fières” frequency rank
47486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fériés fières
Definition Masculin pluriel de férié. Féminin pluriel de fier.

Where the eye mixes fériés and fières

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fériés (CVCVVC) and fières (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
fériés
6 ch
fières

Why the eye confuses fériés with fières

A purely visual mix-up. fériés (\fe.ʁje\) and fières (\fjɛʁ\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fériés is recorded at frequency rank #13,797, classified as anadj, pronounced \fe.ʁje\. fières is at rank #33,689, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fjɛʁ\.

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 47486, this pair ranks #186,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fériés vs fières

Shared letters: firs. Private to "fériés": é. Private to "fières": eè.

"fériés" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "fières" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fériés" and "fières" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fe.ʁje\ versus \fjɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fériés" or "fières"?
"fériés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,797 in our French list, against #33,689 for "fières". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "fériés" and "fières" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fériés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fières" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #186,574 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fériés" and "fières" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fières vs figées". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #186,574 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list