Which to use
“fesse” and “fessée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,625
- “fesse” frequency rank
- #23,551
- “fessée” frequency rank
- 45176
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fesse | fessée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chacune des deux masses charnues situées à la partie postérieure du bassin, chez l’être humain et certains mammifères. | Châtiment corporel consistant en une série de claques ou de coups administrés sur les fesses à main nue ou à l’aide d’un instrument. |
Where the eye mixes fesse and fessée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fesse runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fessée's 6 (CVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fesse with fessée
A purely visual mix-up. fesse (\fɛs\) and fessée (\fɛ.se\) 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 45176, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fesse is recorded at frequency rank #21,625, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛs\. fessée is at rank #23,551, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛ.se\.
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 45176, this pair ranks #204,786 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fesse vs fessée
Shared letters: efs. Private to "fesse": -. Private to "fessée": é.
"fesse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fessée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fesse ← efsse · fese · ffesse · fsese
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fesse" and "fessée" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fesse" or "fessée"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fesse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fessée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #204,786 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fesse" and "fessée" 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 #204,786 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.