Which to use
“fléau” is a noun and “flex” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,502
- “fléau” frequency rank
- #31,032
- “flex” frequency rank
- 41534
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fléau | flex |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument composé de deux bâtons attachés l’un à l’autre à leur bout par un lien flexible, et qui sert à battre le grain pour le séparer de la tige et de l'épi, à la manière d’un fouet rigide. L’un des deux bâtons est le manche de l’outil, l’autre en est la lame. | Qui fait preuve de flexibilité. |
Where the eye mixes fléau and flex
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fléau runs 5 letters (CCVVV) against flex's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fléau with flex
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fléau is \fle.o\ while flex is \fleks\. 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 41534, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fléau is recorded at frequency rank #10,502, classified as anoun, pronounced \fle.o\. flex is at rank #31,032, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fleks\.
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 41534, this pair ranks #232,392 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fléau vs flex
Shared letters: fl. Private to "fléau": aué. Private to "flex": ex.
"fléau" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV · "flex" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- flex ← felx · fflex · flexx · fllex · flxe · lfex
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fléau" for "flex" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fléau" or "flex" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fléau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #232,392 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fléau" and "flex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "filez vs flex". 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 #232,392 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.