Which to use
“féru” is an adjective and “fléau” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,777
- “féru” frequency rank
- #10,502
- “fléau” frequency rank
- 51279
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | féru | fléau |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est blessé, frappé de quelque chose. | Instrument composé de deux bâtons attachés l’un à l’autre à leur bout par un lien flexible, et qui sert à battre le grain pour le séparer de la tige et de l'épi, à la manière d’un fouet rigide. L’un des deux bâtons est le manche de l’outil, l’autre en est la lame. |
Where the eye mixes féru and fléau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. féru runs 4 letters (CVCV) against fléau's 5 (CCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses féru with fléau
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: féru is \fe.ʁy\ while fléau is \fle.o\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51279, 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\. fléau is at rank #10,502, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fle.o\.
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 51279, this pair ranks #156,227 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of féru vs fléau
Shared letters: fué. Private to "féru": r. Private to "fléau": al.
"féru" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fléau" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "féru" and "fléau" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "féru" or "fléau" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "féru" and "fléau" 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 "fléau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #156,227 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "féru" and "fléau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs féru". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #156,227 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.