Which to use
“flame” and “fle” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,462
- “flame” frequency rank
- #39,300
- “fle” frequency rank
- 83762
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flame | fle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe flamer. | Dormir. |
Where the eye mixes flame and fle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses flame with fle
A purely visual mix-up. flame (\flam\) and fle (\ˈfle\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flame is recorded at frequency rank #44,462, classified as averb, pronounced \flam\. fle is at rank #39,300, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈfle\.
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 83762, this pair ranks #14,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of flame vs fle
Shared letters: efl. Private to "flame": am. Private to "fle": -.
"flame" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "fle" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- flame ← falme · fflame · flaem · fllame · flmae · lfame
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "flame" for "fle" ever safe?
Which is more common, "flame" or "fle"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "flame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flame" and "fle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fage vs flame". 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 #14,212 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.