Which to use
“fève” and “frère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,822
- “fève” frequency rank
- #542
- “frère” frequency rank
- 38364
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fève | frère |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Homme ou garçon enfant du même père et de la même mère qu’un ou plusieurs autre(s) individu(s) ; membre masculin d’une adelphie. |
Where the eye mixes fève and frère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fève runs 4 letters (CVCV) against frère's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fève and frère
A purely visual mix-up. fève (\fɛv\) and frère (\fʁɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38364, 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\. frère is at rank #542, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁɛʁ\.
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 38364, this pair ranks #255,773 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fève vs frère
Shared letters: efè. Private to "fève": v. Private to "frère": r.
"fève" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "frère" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fève" and "frère" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fève" or "frère"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fève" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #255,773 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fève" and "frère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fève". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #255,773 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.