Which to use
“fléau” and “fuseau” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,502
- “fléau” frequency rank
- #27,818
- “fuseau” frequency rank
- 38320
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fléau | fuseau |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Petite tige de bois renflée en son milieu, pointu à un bout et arrondi à l’autre et dont on se sert pour filer à la quenouille et tordre le fil, afin de le rouler à mesure qu’il se forme. |
Where the eye mixes fléau and fuseau
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fléau runs 5 letters (CCVVV) against fuseau's 6 (CVCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fléau and fuseau
A purely visual mix-up. fléau (\fle.o\) and fuseau (\fy.zo\) 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 38320, 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\. fuseau is at rank #27,818, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fy.zo\.
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 38320, this pair ranks #256,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fléau vs fuseau
Shared letters: afu. Private to "fléau": lé. Private to "fuseau": es.
"fléau" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV · "fuseau" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fuseau ← ffuseau · fsueau · fuesau · fusaeu · fuseua · fusseau · ufseau
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fléau" and "fuseau" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fléau" or "fuseau" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fléau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fuseau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #256,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fléau" and "fuseau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fuse vs fuseau". 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 #256,099 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.