Which to use
“fête” and “fey” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #943
- “fête” frequency rank
- #46,760
- “fey” frequency rank
- 47703
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fête | fey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Jour consacré particulièrement à des actes de religion, cérémonies religieuses par lesquelles on célèbre ce jour. | Cône. |
Where the eye mixes fête and fey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fête runs 4 letters (CVCV) against fey's 3 (CVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fête vs fey
A purely visual mix-up. fête (\fɛt\) and fey (\fɛj\) 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 47703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fête is recorded at frequency rank #943, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛt\. fey is at rank #46,760, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛj\.
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 47703, this pair ranks #184,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fête vs fey
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fête": tê. Private to "fey": y.
"fête" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fête" and "fey" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fête" vs "fey" - which ranks higher?
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 "fête" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #184,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fête" and "fey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fey". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #184,828 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.