Which to use
“fige” and “fixa” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,806
- “fige” frequency rank
- #38,809
- “fixa” frequency rank
- 77615
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fige | fixa |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de figer. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de fixer. |
Where the eye mixes fige and fixa
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fige and fixa follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses fige with fixa
A purely visual mix-up. fige (\fiʒ\) and fixa (\fik.sa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fige is recorded at frequency rank #38,806, classified as averb, pronounced \fiʒ\. fixa is at rank #38,809, tagged as averb, pronounced \fik.sa\.
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 77615, this pair ranks #27,866 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fige vs fixa
Shared letters: fi. Private to "fige": eg. Private to "fixa": ax.
"fige" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fixa" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fige" for "fixa" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fige" or "fixa"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fige" and "fixa" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fixa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,866 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fige" and "fixa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fige vs Finger". 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 #27,866 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.