Which to use
“flute” and “fûts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,047
- “flute” frequency rank
- #21,949
- “fûts” frequency rank
- 66996
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flute | fûts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument à vent sous forme de tuyau percé d’orifices. De l’air soufflé est mis en vibration par un biseau disposé près de l’embouchure du tuyau dont la longueur est déterminée par le nombre et la taille d’orifices disposés sur le corps de l’instrument. On obtient différents sons par le souffle et par le mouvement des doigts sur les trous. | Pluriel de fût. |
Where the eye mixes flute and fûts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. flute runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against fûts's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses flute with fûts
A purely visual mix-up. flute (\flyt\) and fûts (\fy\) 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 66996, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flute is recorded at frequency rank #45,047, classified as anoun, pronounced \flyt\. fûts is at rank #21,949, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fy\.
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 66996, this pair ranks #65,378 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of flute vs fûts
Shared letters: ft. Private to "flute": elu. Private to "fûts": sû.
"flute" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "fûts" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- flute ← fflute · fllute · fltue · fluet · flutte · fulte · lfute
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "flute" for "fûts" ever safe?
Frequency check: "flute" vs "fûts" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "flute" and "fûts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "flute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fûts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #65,378 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flute" and "fûts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fluctue vs flute". 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 #65,378 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.