finesvsfixéesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fines is a noun, fixées is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fines” is a noun and “fixées” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,694
“fines” frequency rank
#12,572
“fixées” frequency rank
20266
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fines fixées
Definition Granulat composé d’éléments de très petites dimensions utilisé soit comme charge de remplissage pour augmenter la compacité notamment d'un béton, d'un sol, soit comme constituant de certains liants hydrauliques. Féminin pluriel de fixé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fines and fixées apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
fines
6 ch
fixées

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fines is \fin\ while fixées is \fik.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20266, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fines is recorded at frequency rank #7,694, classified as anoun, pronounced \fin\. fixées is at rank #12,572, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fik.se\.

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 20266, this pair ranks #369,158 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fines vs fixées

Shared letters: efis. Private to "fines": n. Private to "fixées": .

"fines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "fixées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • finesffines · fiens · finess · finnes · finse · fnies · ifnes

Frequency comparison

fines#7,694
fixées#12,572

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fines" and "fixées" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fines" is a noun and "fixées" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fines" or "fixées"?
"fines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,694 in our French list, against #12,572 for "fixées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fines vs fixées

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “fines”; for an adjective, it's “fixées”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fines” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list