Which to use
“fermier” and “ferries” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,970
- “fermier” frequency rank
- #31,491
- “ferries” frequency rank
- 43461
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fermier | ferries |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Agriculteur, cultivateur, paysan. | Pluriel de ferry. |
Where the eye mixes fermier and ferries
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fermier and ferries follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: fermier vs ferries
A purely visual mix-up. fermier (\fɛʁ.mje\) and ferries (\fɛ.ʁi\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fermier is recorded at frequency rank #11,970, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛʁ.mje\. ferries is at rank #31,491, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛ.ʁi\.
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 43461, this pair ranks #217,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fermier vs ferries
Shared letters: efir. Private to "fermier": m. Private to "ferries": s.
"fermier" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "ferries" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fermier" and "ferries" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fermier" vs "ferries" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fermier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ferries" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #217,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fermier" and "ferries" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fébriles vs ferries". 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 #217,893 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.