Which to use
“fiche” and “flèche” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,917
- “fiche” frequency rank
- #6,828
- “flèche” frequency rank
- 8745
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fiche | flèche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de ficher, d’enfoncer ; quantité dont on enfonce dans le sol un pieu de fondation. | Trait qu’on lance avec un arc ou une arbalète. |
Where the eye mixes fiche and flèche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fiche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against flèche's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fiche with flèche
A purely visual mix-up. fiche (\fiʃ\) and flèche (\flɛʃ\) 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 8745, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fiche is recorded at frequency rank #1,917, classified as anoun, pronounced \fiʃ\. flèche is at rank #6,828, tagged as anoun, pronounced \flɛʃ\.
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 8745, this pair ranks #418,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fiche vs flèche
Shared letters: cefh. Private to "fiche": i. Private to "flèche": lè.
"fiche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "flèche" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fiche ← fcihe · ffiche · ficche · ficeh · fichhe · fihce · ifche
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fiche" and "flèche" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fiche" vs "flèche" - 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 "fiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flèche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #418,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fiche" and "flèche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flèche vs fléchi". 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 #418,989 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.