flevsfogWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fle is a verb, fog is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fle” is a verb and “fog” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,300
“fle” frequency rank
#46,768
“fog” frequency rank
86068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fle fog
Definition Dormir. Brouillard, brume.

Where the eye mixes fle and fog

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. fle (CCV) and fog (CVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
fle
3 ch
fog

Visual trap between fle and fog

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fle is \ˈfle\ while fog is \fɔɡ\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fle is recorded at frequency rank #39,300, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈfle\. fog is at rank #46,768, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔɡ\.

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 86068, this pair ranks #10,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fle vs fog

Shared letters: f. Private to "fle": el. Private to "fog": go.

"fle" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "fog" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fle" and "fog" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fle" is a verb and "fog" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fle" or "fog"?
"fle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,300 in our French list, against #46,768 for "fog". 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 "fle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fog" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fle" and "fog" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fog". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #10,285 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