Which to use
“fève” is a noun and “fière” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,822
- “fève” frequency rank
- #5,247
- “fière” frequency rank
- 43069
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fève | fière |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Féminin singulier de fier. |
Where the eye mixes fève and fière
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fève runs 4 letters (CVCV) against fière's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fève and fière
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fève is \fɛv\ while fière is \fjɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43069, 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\. fière is at rank #5,247, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fjɛʁ\.
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 43069, this pair ranks #220,855 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fève vs fière
Shared letters: efè. Private to "fève": v. Private to "fière": ir.
"fève" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fière" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fève" and "fière" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fève" vs "fière" - which ranks higher?
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 "fève" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fière" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #220,855 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fève" and "fière" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fève". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #220,855 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.