fétichevsfétichesTell them apart

Quick tell: fétiche is a noun, fétiches is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fétiche” is a noun and “fétiches” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,149
“fétiche” frequency rank
#36,411
“fétiches” frequency rank
56560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fétiche fétiches
Definition Objet de culte animiste, objet cher aux peuples premiers ou chose qui est chez eux un objet de culte. Pluriel de fétiche.

Same sound, different letters: fétiche vs fétiches

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. fétiche runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against fétiches's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
fétiche
8 ch
fétiches

Same sound, different spelling - fétiche / fétiches

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fétiche and fétiches carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fe.tiʃ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fétiche” sits inside “fétiches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fétiche is recorded at frequency rank #20,149, classified as anoun, pronounced \fe.tiʃ\. fétiches is at rank #36,411, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fe.tiʃ\.

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 56560, this pair ranks #120,346 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fétiche vs fétiches

Shared letters: cefhité. Private to "fétiche": -. Private to "fétiches": s.

"fétiche" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "fétiches" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fétiche" and "fétiches" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fétiche" is a noun and "fétiches" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "fétiche" or "fétiches" show up more?
"fétiche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,149 in our French list, against #36,411 for "fétiches". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fétiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fétiches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #120,346 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fétiche" and "fétiches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fétiches vs friches". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #120,346 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