Which to use
“ferri” and “fers” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,818
- “ferri” frequency rank
- #19,837
- “fers” frequency rank
- 52655
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ferri | fers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de ferro. | Pluriel de fer. |
Where the eye mixes ferri and fers
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ferri runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fers's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses ferri with fers
A purely visual mix-up. ferri (\ˈfɛr.ri\) and fers (\fɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ferri is recorded at frequency rank #32,818, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈfɛr.ri\. fers is at rank #19,837, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛʁ\.
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 52655, this pair ranks #146,171 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ferri vs fers
Shared letters: efr. Private to "ferri": i. Private to "fers": s.
"ferri" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ferri" for "fers" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ferri" vs "fers" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ferri" and "fers" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ferri" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #146,171 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ferri" and "fers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "féerie vs ferri". 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 #146,171 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.