Which to use
“féru” is an adjective and “fève” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,777
- “féru” frequency rank
- #37,822
- “fève” frequency rank
- 78599
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | féru | fève |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est blessé, frappé de quelque chose. | Nom vernaculaire de Vicia faba, plante herbacées annuelle de la famille des Fabacées (Fabaceae, au port érigé, pouvant atteindre 2 mètre de haut et que l’on cultive pour sa graine comestible. |
Where the eye mixes féru and fève
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. féru and fève follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: féru vs fève
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: féru is \fe.ʁy\ while fève is \fɛv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
féru is recorded at frequency rank #40,777, classified as anadj, pronounced \fe.ʁy\. fève is at rank #37,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛv\.
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 78599, this pair ranks #25,324 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of féru vs fève
Shared letters: f. Private to "féru": rué. Private to "fève": evè.
"féru" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fève" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "féru" and "fève" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "féru" or "fève"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "féru" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fève" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,324 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "féru" and "fève" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs féru". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #25,324 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.