Which to use
“fic” is a noun and “fis” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,762
- “fic” frequency rank
- #16,880
- “fis” frequency rank
- 63642
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fic | fis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Verrue à pédoncule étroit ressemblant à une figue. | Première personne du singulier du passé simple de faire. |
Where the eye mixes fic and fis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fic and fis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: fic vs fis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fic is \fik\ while fis is \fi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “fic” becomes s in “fis”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fic is recorded at frequency rank #46,762, classified as anoun, pronounced \fik\. fis is at rank #16,880, tagged as averb, pronounced \fi\.
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 63642, this pair ranks #80,943 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fic vs fis
Shared letters: fi. Private to "fic": c. Private to "fis": s.
"fic" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "fis" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fic" and "fis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fic" or "fis" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #80,943 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fic" and "fis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fic". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #80,943 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.