filmervsfumerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,962
“filmer” frequency rank
#4,336
“fumer” frequency rank
12298
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature filmer fumer
Definition Enregistrer une suite d'images animées sur une pellicule sensible à l'aide d'une caméra (le son est souvent enregistré en même temps). Jeter de la fumée.

Where the eye mixes filmer and fumer

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

6 ch
filmer
5 ch
fumer

Visual trap between filmer and fumer

A purely visual mix-up. filmer (\fil.me\) and fumer (\fy.me\) 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 12298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

filmer is recorded at frequency rank #7,962, classified as averb, pronounced \fil.me\. fumer is at rank #4,336, tagged as averb, pronounced \fy.me\.

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 12298, this pair ranks #405,825 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of filmer vs fumer

Shared letters: efmr. Private to "filmer": il. Private to "fumer": u.

"filmer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "fumer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • filmerffilmer · filemr · fillmer · filmerr · filmmer · filmre · fimler · flimer
  • fumerffumer · fmuer · fuemr · fumerr · fummer · fumre · ufmer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "filmer" for "fumer" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fil.me\ versus \fy.me\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "filmer" or "fumer"?
"fumer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,336 in our French list, against #7,962 for "filmer". 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 "filmer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fumer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #405,825 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "filmer" and "fumer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filmer vs Finger". 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 #405,825 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