Which to use
“fixe” is an adjective and “fume” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,615
- “fixe” frequency rank
- #7,965
- “fume” frequency rank
- 10580
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fixe | fume |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Immobile. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de fumer. |
Where the eye mixes fixe and fume
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fixe and fume follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: fixe vs fume
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fixe is \fiks\ while fume is \fym\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fixe is recorded at frequency rank #2,615, classified as anadj, pronounced \fiks\. fume is at rank #7,965, tagged as averb, pronounced \fym\.
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 10580, this pair ranks #412,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fixe vs fume
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fixe": ix. Private to "fume": mu.
"fixe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fume" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fixe" and "fume" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fixe" or "fume" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fixe" and "fume" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fixe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fume" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #412,431 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fixe" and "fume" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fume". 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 #412,431 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.