Which to use
“fugitif” and “furtif” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,980
- “fugitif” frequency rank
- #32,413
- “furtif” frequency rank
- 57393
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fugitif | furtif |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui s’enfuit ou qui s’est enfui. | Qui se fait à la dérobée. |
Where the eye mixes fugitif and furtif
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fugitif runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against furtif's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fugitif with furtif
A purely visual mix-up. fugitif (\fy.ʒi.tif\) and furtif (\fyʁ.tif\) 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 57393, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fugitif is recorded at frequency rank #24,980, classified as anadj, pronounced \fy.ʒi.tif\. furtif is at rank #32,413, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fyʁ.tif\.
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 57393, this pair ranks #115,315 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fugitif vs furtif
Shared letters: fitu. Private to "fugitif": g. Private to "furtif": r.
"fugitif" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "furtif" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fugitif" for "furtif" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fugitif" vs "furtif" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fugitif" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "furtif" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,315 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fugitif" and "furtif" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "furtif vs furtifs". 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 #115,315 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.