feutrevsfiltreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“feutre” and “filtre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#24,591
“feutre” frequency rank
#6,298
“filtre” frequency rank
30889
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feutre filtre
Definition Étoffe non tissée constituée de poils ou de fibres de laine agglomérées ensemble par soufflage, et mise sous pression avec ébouillantage dans la forme, ou, en fabrication traditionnelle mongole par mouillage et foulage. Corps poreux (feutre, papier, charbon, etc.) au travers duquel on fait passer une substance liquide, gazeuse ou corpusculaire (la lumière, le courant électrique), pour la clarifier, l’épurer ou en séparer certains éléments.

Where the eye mixes feutre and filtre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. feutre (CVVCCV) and filtre (CVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
feutre
6 ch
filtre

Why the eye confuses feutre with filtre

A purely visual mix-up. feutre (\føtʁ\) and filtre (\filtʁ\) 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 30889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feutre is recorded at frequency rank #24,591, classified as anoun, pronounced \føtʁ\. filtre is at rank #6,298, tagged as anoun, pronounced \filtʁ\.

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 30889, this pair ranks #307,358 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of feutre vs filtre

Shared letters: efrt. Private to "feutre": u. Private to "filtre": il.

"feutre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "filtre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feutre ← efutre · feture · feurte · feuter · feutrre · feuttre · ffeutre · fuetre
  • filtre ← ffiltre · filltre · filrte · filter · filtrre · filttre · fitlre · flitre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "feutre" and "filtre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\føtʁ\ versus \filtʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "feutre" vs "filtre" - which ranks higher?
"filtre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,298 in our French list, against #24,591 for "feutre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "feutre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "filtre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #307,358 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feutre" and "filtre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feutre vs flute". 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 #307,358 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