Which to use
“fers” and “fesse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,837
- “fers” frequency rank
- #21,625
- “fesse” frequency rank
- 41462
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fers | fesse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fer. | Chacune des deux masses charnues situées à la partie postérieure du bassin, chez l’être humain et certains mammifères. |
Where the eye mixes fers and fesse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fers runs 4 letters (CVCC) against fesse's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fers and fesse
A purely visual mix-up. fers (\fɛʁ\) and fesse (\fɛs\) 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 41462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fers is recorded at frequency rank #19,837, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛʁ\. fesse is at rank #21,625, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛs\.
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 41462, this pair ranks #232,902 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fers vs fesse
Shared letters: efs. Private to "fers": r. Private to "fesse": -.
"fers" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "fesse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fers" for "fesse" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fers" vs "fesse" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fesse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,902 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fers" and "fesse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fesse". 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 #232,902 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.