Which to use
“fêtes” and “fines” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,929
- “fêtes” frequency rank
- #7,694
- “fines” frequency rank
- 10623
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fêtes | fines |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fête. | Granulat composé d’éléments de très petites dimensions utilisé soit comme charge de remplissage pour augmenter la compacité notamment d'un béton, d'un sol, soit comme constituant de certains liants hydrauliques. |
Where the eye mixes fêtes and fines
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fêtes with fines
A purely visual mix-up. fêtes (\fɛt\) and fines (\fin\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fêtes is recorded at frequency rank #2,929, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛt\. fines is at rank #7,694, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fin\.
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 10623, this pair ranks #412,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fêtes vs fines
Shared letters: efs. Private to "fêtes": tê. Private to "fines": in.
"fêtes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "fines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fines ← ffines · fiens · finess · finnes · finse · fnies · ifnes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fêtes" for "fines" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fêtes" or "fines"?
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 "fêtes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #412,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fêtes" and "fines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fines vs Finger". 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 #412,287 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.