fèvevsfèvesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#37,822
“fève” frequency rank
#26,017
“fèves” frequency rank
63839
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fève fèves
Definition 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. Pluriel de fève.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fève and fèves apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
fève
5 ch
fèves

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. fève and fèves are pronounced identically (\fɛv\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fève” sits inside “fèves”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fève is recorded at frequency rank #37,822, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛv\. fèves is at rank #26,017, 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 63839, this pair ranks #79,961 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fève vs fèves

Shared letters: efvè. Private to "fève": -. Private to "fèves": s.

"fève" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fèves" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequency comparison

fève#37,822
fèves#26,017

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fève" and "fèves" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\fɛv\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "fève" or "fèves"?
"fèves" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,017 in our French list, against #37,822 for "fève". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fève vs fèves

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fève” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list