Which to use
“fesse” and “fève” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,625
- “fesse” frequency rank
- #37,822
- “fève” frequency rank
- 59447
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fesse | fève |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chacune des deux masses charnues situées à la partie postérieure du bassin, chez l’être humain et certains mammifères. | 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 fesse and fève
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fesse vs fève
A purely visual mix-up. fesse (\fɛs\) and fève (\fɛv\) 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 59447, 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\. 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 59447, this pair ranks #103,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fesse vs fève
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fesse": s. Private to "fève": vè.
"fesse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fève" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fesse ← efsse · fese · ffesse · fsese
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fesse" for "fève" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fesse" or "fève"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fesse" and "fève" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fesse" 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 #103,078 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fesse" and "fève" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fève". 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 #103,078 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.