Which to use
“filant” and “fumant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,790
- “filant” frequency rank
- #24,601
- “fumant” frequency rank
- 66391
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | filant | fumant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui coule sans se diviser et s’allonge en une apparence de fil continu. | Qui fume, qui jette de la fumée ou quelque vapeur. |
Where the eye mixes filant and fumant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. filant and fumant follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between filant and fumant
A purely visual mix-up. filant (\fi.lɑ̃\) and fumant (\fy.mɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66391, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
filant is recorded at frequency rank #41,790, classified as anadj, pronounced \fi.lɑ̃\. fumant is at rank #24,601, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fy.mɑ̃\.
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 66391, this pair ranks #68,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of filant vs fumant
Shared letters: afnt. Private to "filant": il. Private to "fumant": mu.
"filant" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "fumant" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "filant" for "fumant" ever safe?
Frequency check: "filant" vs "fumant" - which ranks higher?
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 "filant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fumant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #68,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "filant" and "fumant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filant vs filmant". 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 #68,028 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.