féruvsfierTell them apart

Which to use

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

#40,777
“féru” frequency rank
#2,365
“fier” frequency rank
43142
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature féru fier
Definition Qui est blessé, frappé de quelque chose. Qui éprouve une envie d’amour-propre souvent fondée.

Where the eye mixes féru and fier

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
féru
4 ch
fier

Visual trap between féru and fier

A purely visual mix-up. féru (\fe.ʁy\) and fier (\fjɛʁ\) 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 43142, 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\. fier is at rank #2,365, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fjɛʁ\.

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 43142, this pair ranks #220,308 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of féru vs fier

Shared letters: fr. Private to "féru": . Private to "fier": ei.

"féru" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fier" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fierfeir · ffier · fierr · ifer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "féru" and "fier" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fe.ʁy\ versus \fjɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "féru" or "fier"?
"fier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,365 in our French list, against #40,777 for "féru". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "féru" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fier" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #220,308 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "féru" and "fier" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs féru". 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 #220,308 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