Which to use
“feux” and “fève” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,756
- “feux” frequency rank
- #37,822
- “fève” frequency rank
- 41578
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feux | fève |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Feux tricolores. | Nom vernaculaire de Vicia faba, plante herbacées annuelle de la famille des Fabacées (Fabaceae, au port érigé, pouvant atteindre 2 mètre de haut et que l’on cultive pour sa graine comestible. |
Where the eye mixes feux and fève
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: feux vs fève
A purely visual mix-up. feux (\fø\) and fève (\fɛv\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41578, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feux is recorded at frequency rank #3,756, classified as anoun, pronounced \fø\. fève is at rank #37,822, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛv\.
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 41578, this pair ranks #232,086 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of feux vs fève
Shared letters: ef. Private to "feux": ux. Private to "fève": vè.
"feux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fève" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- feux ← efux · feuxx · fexu · ffeux · fuex
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "feux" for "fève" ever safe?
Frequency check: "feux" vs "fève" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "feux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fève" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,086 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feux" and "fève" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fève". 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 #232,086 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.