fléauxvsfuseauxTell them apart

Which to use

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

#37,816
“fléaux” frequency rank
#39,310
“fuseaux” frequency rank
77126
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fléaux fuseaux
Definition Pluriel de fléau. Pluriel de fuseau.

Where the eye mixes fléaux and fuseaux

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fléaux runs 6 letters (CCVVVC) against fuseaux's 7 (CVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
fléaux
7 ch
fuseaux

Visual trap between fléaux and fuseaux

A purely visual mix-up. fléaux (\fle.o\) and fuseaux (\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 77126, 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\. fuseaux is at rank #39,310, 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 77126, this pair ranks #29,239 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fléaux vs fuseaux

Shared letters: afux. Private to "fléaux": lé. Private to "fuseaux": es.

"fléaux" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC  ·  "fuseaux" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fuseaux ← ffuseaux · fsueaux · fuesaux · fusaeux · fuseauxx · fuseaxu · fuseuax · fusseaux

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fléaux" and "fuseaux" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fle.o\ versus \fy.zo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "fléaux" or "fuseaux" show up more?
"fléaux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,816 in our French list, against #39,310 for "fuseaux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "fléaux" and "fuseaux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fléaux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fuseaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,239 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fléaux" and "fuseaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fléaux vs floraux". 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 #29,239 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