fezvsfûtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#35,037
“fez” frequency rank
#7,062
“fût” frequency rank
42099
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fez fût
Definition Couvre-chef de laine rouge ou blanche, qui a remplacé le turban dans de nombreuses communautés musulmanes. Bois sur lequel est monté le canon d’un fusil, d’une arquebuse, d’un pistolet, etc.

Where the eye mixes fez and fût

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
fez
3 ch
fût

Look-alike desk: fez vs fût

A purely visual mix-up. fez (\fɛz\) and fût (\fy\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42099, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fez is recorded at frequency rank #35,037, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛz\. fût is at rank #7,062, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fy\.

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 42099, this pair ranks #228,235 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fez vs fût

Shared letters: f. Private to "fez": ez. Private to "fût": .

"fez" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fût" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fez" for "fût" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fɛz\ versus \fy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fez" vs "fût" - which ranks higher?
"fût" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,062 in our French list, against #35,037 for "fez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "fez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fût" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #228,235 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fez" and "fût" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fez vs filez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #228,235 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list