Which to use
“fermier” and “février” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,970
- “fermier” frequency rank
- #626
- “février” frequency rank
- 12596
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fermier | février |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Agriculteur, cultivateur, paysan. | Deuxième mois du calendrier grégorien qui compte normalement vingt-huit jours, sauf dans les années bissextiles où il en compte vingt-neuf. |
Where the eye mixes fermier and février
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fermier and février follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between fermier and février
A purely visual mix-up. fermier (\fɛʁ.mje\) and février (\fe.vʁi.je\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12596, 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\. février is at rank #626, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fe.vʁi.je\.
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 12596, this pair ranks #404,578 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fermier vs février
Shared letters: efir. Private to "fermier": m. Private to "février": vé.
"fermier" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "février" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fermier ← efrmier · femrier · ferimer · fermeir · fermierr · fermire · fermmier · ferrmier
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fermier" for "février" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fermier" vs "février" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fermier" and "février" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fermier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "février" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,578 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fermier" and "février" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fermier vs ferrière". 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 #404,578 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.