ferreuxvsfurieuxConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#39,799
“ferreux” frequency rank
#9,010
“furieux” frequency rank
48809
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ferreux furieux
Definition Qui contient du fer. Qui est en fureur ; qui est en furie.

Where the eye mixes ferreux and furieux

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ferreux (CVCCVVC) and furieux (CVCVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
ferreux
7 ch
furieux

Visual trap between ferreux and furieux

A purely visual mix-up. ferreux (\fɛ.ʁø\) and furieux (\fy.ʁjø\) 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 48809, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ferreux is recorded at frequency rank #39,799, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɛ.ʁø\. furieux is at rank #9,010, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fy.ʁjø\.

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 48809, this pair ranks #175,874 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ferreux vs furieux

Shared letters: efrux. Private to "ferreux": -. Private to "furieux": i.

"ferreux" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "furieux" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ferreux ← efrreux · fererux · fereux · ferreuxx · ferrexu · ferruex · fferreux · frereux
  • furieux ← ffurieux · fruieux · fuireux · fureiux · furieuxx · furiexu · furiuex · furrieux

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ferreux" and "furieux" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fɛ.ʁø\ versus \fy.ʁjø\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "ferreux" or "furieux" show up more?
"furieux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,010 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ferreux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "furieux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #175,874 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ferreux" and "furieux" 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 #175,874 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