Which to use
“fières” is an adjective and “fièvres” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,689
- “fières” frequency rank
- #37,336
- “fièvres” frequency rank
- 71025
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fières | fièvres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de fier. | Pluriel de fièvre. |
Where the eye mixes fières and fièvres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. fières runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against fièvres's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fières and fièvres
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fières is \fjɛʁ\ while fièvres is \fjɛvʁ\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fières is recorded at frequency rank #33,689, 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 71025, this pair ranks #49,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fières vs fièvres
Shared letters: efirsè. Private to "fières": -. Private to "fièvres": v.
"fières" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "fièvres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fières" for "fièvres" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fières" or "fièvres" show up more?
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 "fières" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fièvres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,083 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fières" and "fièvres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fières vs figées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #49,083 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.