Which to use
“fey” is a noun and “flex” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,760
- “fey” frequency rank
- #31,032
- “flex” frequency rank
- 77792
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fey | flex |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cône. | Qui fait preuve de flexibilité. |
Where the eye mixes fey and flex
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fey runs 3 letters (CVV) against flex's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fey vs flex
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fey is \fɛj\ while flex is \fleks\. 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 77792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fey is recorded at frequency rank #46,760, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛj\. flex is at rank #31,032, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fleks\.
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 77792, this pair ranks #27,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fey vs flex
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fey": y. Private to "flex": lx.
"fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "flex" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- flex ← felx · fflex · flexx · fllex · flxe · lfex
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fey" for "flex" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fey" vs "flex" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fey" and "flex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fey". 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 #27,449 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.