figuesvsflinguesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#28,559
“figues” frequency rank
#35,040
“flingues” frequency rank
63599
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature figues flingues
Definition Pluriel de figue. Pluriel de flingue.

Where the eye mixes figues and flingues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
figues
8 ch
flingues

Why the eye confuses figues with flingues

A purely visual mix-up. figues (\fiɡ\) and flingues (\flɛ̃ɡ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

figues is recorded at frequency rank #28,559, classified as anoun, pronounced \fiɡ\. flingues is at rank #35,040, tagged as anoun, pronounced \flɛ̃ɡ\.

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 63599, this pair ranks #81,177 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of figues vs flingues

Shared letters: efgisu. Private to "figues": -. Private to "flingues": ln.

"figues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "flingues" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • figuesffigues · fgiues · figeus · figgues · figuess · figuse · fiuges · ifgues
  • flinguesfflingues · filngues · flignues · flingeus · flinggues · flinguess · flinguse · flinngues

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "figues" and "flingues" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fiɡ\ versus \flɛ̃ɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "figues" or "flingues"?
"figues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,559 in our French list, against #35,040 for "flingues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "figues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flingues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,177 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "figues" and "flingues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "figées vs figues". 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 #81,177 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