Which to use
“fléau” and “Frau” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,502
- “fléau” frequency rank
- #43,450
- “Frau” frequency rank
- 53952
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fléau | Frau |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Femme, être humain adulte de sexe féminin. |
Where the eye mixes fléau and Frau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fléau runs 5 letters (CCVVV) against Frau's 4 (CCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fléau and Frau
A purely visual mix-up. fléau (\fle.o\) and Frau (\ˈfʁaʊ̯\) 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 53952, 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\. Frau is at rank #43,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈfʁaʊ̯\.
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 53952, this pair ranks #137,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fléau vs Frau
Shared letters: afu. Private to "fléau": lé. Private to "Frau": r.
"fléau" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV · "Frau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- Frau ← faru · ffrau · frrau · frua · rfau
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fléau" and "Frau" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "fléau" or "Frau" 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 "Frau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #137,333 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fléau" and "Frau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ffa vs Frau". 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 #137,333 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.