Which to use
“fiefs” is a noun and “figées” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,016
- “fiefs” frequency rank
- #48,530
- “figées” frequency rank
- 69546
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fiefs | figées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fief. | Féminin pluriel de figé. |
Where the eye mixes fiefs and figées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fiefs runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against figées's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fiefs and figées
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fiefs is \fjɛf\ while figées is \fi.ʒe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fiefs is recorded at frequency rank #21,016, classified as anoun, pronounced \fjɛf\. figées is at rank #48,530, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fi.ʒe\.
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 69546, this pair ranks #54,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fiefs vs figées
Shared letters: efis. Private to "fiefs": -. Private to "figées": gé.
"fiefs" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "figées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fiefs ← feifs · ffiefs · fieffs · fiefss · fiesf · fifes · ifefs
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fiefs" for "figées" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fiefs" vs "figées" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fiefs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "figées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #54,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fiefs" and "figées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figées vs fioles". 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 #54,691 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.