ferréesvsferreuxConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#22,567
“ferrées” frequency rank
#39,799
“ferreux” frequency rank
62366
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ferrées ferreux
Definition Féminin pluriel de ferré. Qui contient du fer.

Where the eye mixes ferrées and ferreux

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
ferrées
7 ch
ferreux

Visual trap between ferrées and ferreux

A purely visual mix-up. ferrées (\fɛ.ʁe\) and ferreux (\fɛ.ʁø\) 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 62366, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ferrées is recorded at frequency rank #22,567, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɛ.ʁe\. ferreux is at rank #39,799, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɛ.ʁø\.

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 62366, this pair ranks #87,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ferrées vs ferreux

Shared letters: efr. Private to "ferrées": . Private to "ferreux": ux.

"ferrées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "ferreux" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ferreuxefrreux · fererux · fereux · ferreuxx · ferrexu · ferruex · fferreux · frereux

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ferrées" for "ferreux" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fɛ.ʁe\ versus \fɛ.ʁø\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ferrées" vs "ferreux" - which ranks higher?
"ferrées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,567 in our French list, against #39,799 for "ferreux". 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 "ferrées" and "ferreux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ferrées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ferreux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #87,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ferrées" and "ferreux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ferret vs ferreux". 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 #87,500 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