figésvsfiguesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#42,338
“figés” frequency rank
#28,559
“figues” frequency rank
70897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature figés figues
Definition Masculin pluriel de figé. Pluriel de figue.

Where the eye mixes figés and figues

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

5 ch
figés
6 ch
figues

Look-alike desk: figés vs figues

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: figés is \fi.ʒe\ while figues is \fiɡ\. 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 70897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

figés is recorded at frequency rank #42,338, classified as anadj, pronounced \fi.ʒe\. figues is at rank #28,559, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fiɡ\.

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 70897, this pair ranks #49,566 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of figés vs figues

Shared letters: fgis. Private to "figés": é. Private to "figues": eu.

"figés" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "figues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • figues ← ffigues · fgiues · figeus · figgues · figuess · figuse · fiuges · ifgues

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "figés" for "figues" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "figés" is an adjective and "figues" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "figés" or "figues"?
"figues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,559 in our French list, against #42,338 for "figés". 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 "figés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "figues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,566 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "figés" and "figues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figés 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 #49,566 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