figéesvsfixésTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,530
“figées” frequency rank
#9,834
“fixés” frequency rank
58364
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature figées fixés
Definition Féminin pluriel de figé. Masculin pluriel de fixé.

Where the eye mixes figées and fixés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. figées runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against fixés's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
figées
5 ch
fixés

Why the eye confuses figées with fixés

A purely visual mix-up. figées (\fi.ʒe\) and fixés (\fik.se\) 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 58364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

figées is recorded at frequency rank #48,530, classified as anadj, pronounced \fi.ʒe\. fixés is at rank #9,834, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fik.se\.

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 58364, this pair ranks #109,470 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of figées vs fixés

Shared letters: fisé. Private to "figées": eg. Private to "fixés": x.

"figées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "fixés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "figées" and "fixés" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fi.ʒe\ versus \fik.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "figées" vs "fixés" - which ranks higher?
"fixés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,834 in our French list, against #48,530 for "figées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "figées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fixés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #109,470 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "figées" and "fixés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figées vs fioles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #109,470 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