Which to use
“figue” and “fugue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,844
- “figue” frequency rank
- #22,869
- “fugue” frequency rank
- 59713
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | figue | fugue |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Fuite. |
Where the eye mixes figue and fugue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. figue and fugue follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between figue and fugue
A purely visual mix-up. figue (\fiɡ\) and fugue (\fyɡ\) 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 a single letter - i in “figue” becomes u in “fugue”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59713, 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\. fugue is at rank #22,869, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fyɡ\.
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 59713, this pair ranks #101,591 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of figue vs fugue
Shared letters: efgu. Private to "figue": i. Private to "fugue": -.
"figue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "fugue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "figue" for "fugue" ever safe?
Which is more common, "figue" or "fugue"?
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 "fugue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #101,591 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "figue" and "fugue" 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 #101,591 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.