féruvsfièreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#40,777
“féru” frequency rank
#5,247
“fière” frequency rank
46024
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature féru fière
Definition Qui est blessé, frappé de quelque chose. Féminin singulier de fier.

Where the eye mixes féru and fière

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. féru runs 4 letters (CVCV) against fière's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
féru
5 ch
fière

Look-alike desk: féru vs fière

A purely visual mix-up. féru (\fe.ʁy\) and fière (\fjɛʁ\) 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 46024, 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\. fière is at rank #5,247, 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 46024, this pair ranks #198,211 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of féru vs fière

Shared letters: fr. Private to "féru": ué. Private to "fière": eiè.

"féru" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fière" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "féru" and "fière" mean the same thing in a sentence?
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 "fière"?
"fière" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,247 in our French list, against #40,777 for "féru". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "féru" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fière" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #198,211 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "féru" and "fière" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs féru". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #198,211 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