fibresvsfièvresConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,825
“fibres” frequency rank
#37,336
“fièvres” frequency rank
45161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fibres fièvres
Definition Pluriel de fibre. Pluriel de fièvre.

Where the eye mixes fibres and fièvres

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fibres runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against fièvres's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fibres
7 ch
fièvres

Look-alike desk: fibres vs fièvres

A purely visual mix-up. fibres (\fibʁ\) and fièvres (\fjɛvʁ\) 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 45161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fibres is recorded at frequency rank #7,825, classified as anoun, pronounced \fibʁ\. fièvres is at rank #37,336, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fjɛvʁ\.

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 45161, this pair ranks #204,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fibres vs fièvres

Shared letters: efirs. Private to "fibres": b. Private to "fièvres": vè.

"fibres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "fièvres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fibres ← fbires · ffibres · fibbres · fibers · fibress · fibrres · fibrse · firbes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fibres" for "fièvres" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fibʁ\ versus \fjɛvʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fibres" vs "fièvres" - which ranks higher?
"fibres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,825 in our French list, against #37,336 for "fièvres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fibres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fièvres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #204,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fibres" and "fièvres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fières vs fièvres". 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 #204,923 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