Which to use
“filent” and “furent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,030
- “filent” frequency rank
- #1,593
- “furent” frequency rank
- 32623
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | filent | furent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de filer. | Troisième personne du pluriel du passé simple de être. |
Where the eye mixes filent and furent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. filent and furent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses filent with furent
A purely visual mix-up. filent (\fil\) and furent (\fyʁ\) 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 32623, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
filent is recorded at frequency rank #31,030, classified as averb, pronounced \fil\. furent is at rank #1,593, tagged as averb, pronounced \fyʁ\.
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 32623, this pair ranks #296,073 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of filent vs furent
Shared letters: efnt. Private to "filent": il. Private to "furent": ru.
"filent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "furent" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "filent" and "furent" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "filent" or "furent"?
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 "filent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "furent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #296,073 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "filent" and "furent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filent vs filez". 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 #296,073 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.