fléauxvsfleurWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“fléaux” and “fleur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,816
“fléaux” frequency rank
#3,535
“fleur” frequency rank
41351
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fléaux fleur
Definition Pluriel de fléau. Organe reproducteur des angiospermes (ou « plantes à fleurs »), constitué des organes de la reproduction sexuée (étamines, carpelles) et de leurs enveloppes protectrices (sépales, pétales).

Where the eye mixes fléaux and fleur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fléaux runs 6 letters (CCVVVC) against fleur's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fléaux
5 ch
fleur

Visual trap between fléaux and fleur

A purely visual mix-up. fléaux (\fle.o\) and fleur (\flœʁ\) 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 41351, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fléaux is recorded at frequency rank #37,816, classified as anoun, pronounced \fle.o\. fleur is at rank #3,535, tagged as anoun, pronounced \flœʁ\.

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 41351, this pair ranks #233,716 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fléaux vs fleur

Shared letters: flu. Private to "fléaux": axé. Private to "fleur": er.

"fléaux" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC  ·  "fleur" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fleur ← felur · ffleur · fleru · fleurr · flleur · fluer · lfeur

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fléaux" for "fleur" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fle.o\ versus \flœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fléaux" vs "fleur" - which ranks higher?
"fleur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,535 in our French list, against #37,816 for "fléaux". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "fléaux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fleur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #233,716 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fléaux" and "fleur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fléaux vs fuseaux". 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 #233,716 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