fêteravsfêtesConfusable pair

Quick tell: fêtera is a verb, fêtes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fêtera” is a verb and “fêtes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,521
“fêtera” frequency rank
#2,929
“fêtes” frequency rank
38450
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fêtera fêtes
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du futur de fêter. Pluriel de fête.

Where the eye mixes fêtera and fêtes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fêtera runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against fêtes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fêtera
5 ch
fêtes

Why the eye confuses fêtera with fêtes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fêtera is \fɛ.tə.ʁa\ while fêtes is \fɛt\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38450, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fêtera is recorded at frequency rank #35,521, classified as averb, pronounced \fɛ.tə.ʁa\. fêtes is at rank #2,929, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛt\.

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 38450, this pair ranks #255,184 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fêtera vs fêtes

Shared letters: eftê. Private to "fêtera": ar. Private to "fêtes": s.

"fêtera" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "fêtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fêtera" for "fêtes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fêtera" is a verb and "fêtes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fêtera" vs "fêtes" - which ranks higher?
"fêtes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,929 in our French list, against #35,521 for "fêtera". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "fêtera" and "fêtes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fêtera" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fêtes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #255,184 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fêtera" and "fêtes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fêtera vs fever". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #255,184 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