Which to use
“fine” and “fringe” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,919
- “fine” frequency rank
- #46,776
- “fringe” frequency rank
- 50695
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fine | fringe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Terme utilisé communément dans l’imprimerie et par les typographes pour désigner une espace insécable, mais d'une largeur fixe non justifiable (en cas de justification des lignes complètes de paragraphes entre les deux marges), et plus fine (entre un sixième et un quart de cadratin, selon les polices de caractères utilisées) que l’espace normale (un demi cadratin) séparant les mots ; la fine est utilisée soit en juxtaposition avec certains signes de ponctuation, soit aussi (dans les conventions typographiques françaises) comme séparateur de groupes de chiffres dans un nombre ou un numéro. | Frange. |
Letter map: fine vs fringe
Shared letters muted; letters that set fine and fringe apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Corpus notes: fine and fringe
fine and fringe are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fine is recorded at frequency rank #3,919, classified as anoun, pronounced \fin\. fringe is at rank #46,776, tagged as anoun.
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 50695, this pair ranks #160,655 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fine vs fringe
Shared letters: efin. Private to "fine": -. Private to "fringe": gr.
"fine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fringe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fine" and "fringe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fine" or "fringe"?
What to do next
Pair "fine" vs "fringe" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "fine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fringe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #160,655 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fine" and "fringe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fringe vs fronce". 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 #160,655 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.