figéevsfiguréWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“figée” and “figuré” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,810
“figée” frequency rank
#16,364
“figuré” frequency rank
44174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature figée figuré
Definition Féminin singulier de figé. Fait selon une certaine figure.

Where the eye mixes figée and figuré

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
figée
6 ch
figuré

Look-alike desk: figée vs figuré

A purely visual mix-up. figée (\fi.ʒe\) and figuré (\fi.ɡy.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

figée is recorded at frequency rank #27,810, classified as anadj, pronounced \fi.ʒe\. figuré is at rank #16,364, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fi.ɡy.ʁe\.

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 44174, this pair ranks #212,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of figée vs figuré

Shared letters: fgié. Private to "figée": e. Private to "figuré": ru.

"figée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "figuré" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "figée" and "figuré" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\fi.ʒe\ versus \fi.ɡy.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "figée" or "figuré"?
"figuré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,364 in our French list, against #27,810 for "figée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "figée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "figuré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #212,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "figée" and "figuré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figée vs Finger". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #212,463 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list