fièrevsfièvresWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fière is a adjective, fièvres is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fière” is an adjective and “fièvres” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,247
“fière” frequency rank
#37,336
“fièvres” frequency rank
42583
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fière fièvres
Definition Féminin singulier de fier. Pluriel de fièvre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fière and fièvres apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
fière
7 ch
fièvres

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fière is \fjɛʁ\ while fièvres is \fjɛvʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fière is recorded at frequency rank #5,247, classified as anadj, pronounced \fjɛʁ\. 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 42583, this pair ranks #224,509 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fière vs fièvres

Shared letters: efirè. Private to "fière": -. Private to "fièvres": sv.

"fière" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "fièvres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Frequency comparison

fière#5,247
fièvres#37,336

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fière" and "fièvres" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fière" is an adjective and "fièvres" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fière" or "fièvres"?
"fière" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,247 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.

Remembering fière vs fièvres

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “fière”; for a noun, it's “fièvres”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fière” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list