fève vs fle, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“fève” is a noun and “fle” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,822
“fève” frequency rank: #39,300
“fle” frequency rank: 77122
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fève	fle
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.	Dormir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fève and fle apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

fève

3 ch

fle

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fève is \fɛv\ while fle is \ˈfle\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77122, 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\. fle is at rank #39,300, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈfle\.

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 77122, this pair ranks #29,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fève vs fle

Shared letters: ef. Private to "fève": vè. Private to "fle": l.

"fève" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fle" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequency comparison

fève#37,822

fle#39,300

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fève" and "fle" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fève" is a noun and "fle" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "fève" or "fle"?

"fève" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,822 in our French list, against #39,300 for "fle". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fève vs fle

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “fève”; for a verb, it's “fle”.
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