Which to use
“fle” and “fuse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,300
- “fle” frequency rank
- #46,778
- “fuse” frequency rank
- 86078
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fle | fuse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dormir. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe fuser. |
Where the eye mixes fle and fuse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fle runs 3 letters (CCV) against fuse's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fle with fuse
A purely visual mix-up. fle (\ˈfle\) and fuse (\fyz\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86078, 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\. fuse is at rank #46,778, tagged as averb, pronounced \fyz\.
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 86078, this pair ranks #10,272 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fle vs fuse
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fle": l. Private to "fuse": su.
"fle" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "fuse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fuse ← ffuse · fsue · fues · fusse · ufse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fle" for "fuse" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fle" vs "fuse" - which ranks higher?
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 "fle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,272 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fle" and "fuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fuse". 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 #10,272 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.