figuesvsfugueWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,559
“figues” frequency rank
#22,869
“fugue” frequency rank
51428
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature figues fugue
Definition Pluriel de figue. Fuite.

Where the eye mixes figues and fugue

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

6 ch
figues
5 ch
fugue

Look-alike desk: figues vs fugue

A purely visual mix-up. figues (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51428, 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\. 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 51428, this pair ranks #155,072 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of figues vs fugue

Shared letters: efgu. Private to "figues": is. Private to "fugue": -.

"figues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "fugue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • figues ← ffigues · fgiues · figeus · figgues · figuess · figuse · fiuges · ifgues
  • fugue ← ffugue · fguue · fugeu · fuggue · fuuge · ufgue

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "figues" and "fugue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\fiɡ\ versus \fyɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "figues" vs "fugue" - which ranks higher?
"fugue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,869 in our French list, against #28,559 for "figues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "figues" 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 #155,072 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "figues" and "fugue" 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 #155,072 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