figuevsfilmeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: figue is a noun, filme is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“figue” is a noun and “filme” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,844
“figue” frequency rank
#14,040
“filme” frequency rank
50884
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature figue filme
Definition Faux-fruit comestible du figuier, issu de l’inflorescence contenant des akènes qui sont les fruits proprement dits, contenus dans une pulpe molle et sucrée. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de filmer.

Where the eye mixes figue and filme

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. figue (CVCVV) and filme (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
figue
5 ch
filme

Look-alike desk: figue vs filme

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: figue is \fiɡ\ while filme is \film\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50884, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

figue is recorded at frequency rank #36,844, classified as anoun, pronounced \fiɡ\. filme is at rank #14,040, tagged as averb, pronounced \film\.

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 50884, this pair ranks #159,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of figue vs filme

Shared letters: efi. Private to "figue": gu. Private to "filme": lm.

"figue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV  ·  "filme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • figue ← ffigue · fgiue · figeu · figgue · fiuge · ifgue
  • filme ← ffilme · filem · fillme · filmme · fimle · flime · iflme

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "figue" for "filme" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "figue" is a noun and "filme" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "figue" or "filme" show up more?
"filme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,040 in our French list, against #36,844 for "figue". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "figue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "filme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #159,195 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "figue" and "filme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figées vs figue". 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 #159,195 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