Which to use
“fidèle” is an adjective and “fides” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,138
- “fidèle” frequency rank
- #38,296
- “fides” frequency rank
- 41434
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fidèle | fides |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui garde sa foi, à l’égard d’une personne ou d’une idée, qui est constant dans les affections, qui remplit ses devoirs, ses engagements. | Foi, croyance, confiance, créance, crédit. |
Letter map: fidèle vs fides
Shared letters muted; letters that set fidèle and fides apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. fidèle runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against fides's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - fidèle and fides
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fidèle is anadjective and fidesanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fidèle is recorded at frequency rank #3,138, classified as anadj, pronounced \fi.dɛl\. fides is at rank #38,296, tagged as anoun.
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 41434, this pair ranks #233,122 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fidèle vs fides
Shared letters: defi. Private to "fidèle": lè. Private to "fides": s.
"fidèle" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "fides" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fides ← fdies · ffides · fiddes · fidess · fidse · fieds · ifdes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fidèle" and "fides" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fidèle" or "fides"?
After this comparison
You've compared "fidèle" and "fides". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "fidèle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fides" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #233,122 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fidèle" and "fides" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fides vs filez". 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 #233,122 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.