fuirvsfuseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,672
“fuir” frequency rank
#46,778
“fuse” frequency rank
51450
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fuir fuse
Definition S’éloigner à toute vitesse, par peur. Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe fuser.

Where the eye mixes fuir and fuse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fuir
4 ch
fuse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fuir (\fɥiʁ\) and fuse (\fyz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51450, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fuir is recorded at frequency rank #4,672, classified as averb, pronounced \fɥiʁ\. fuse is at rank #46,778, tagged as averb, pronounced \fyz\.

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 51450, this pair ranks #154,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fuir vs fuse

Shared letters: fu. Private to "fuir": ir. Private to "fuse": es.

"fuir" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "fuse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fuirffuir · fiur · fuirr · furi · ufir
  • fuseffuse · fsue · fues · fusse · ufse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fuir" and "fuse" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fɥiʁ\ versus \fyz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fuir" or "fuse"?
"fuir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,672 in our French list, against #46,778 for "fuse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "fuir" and "fuse". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fuir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #154,907 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fuir" and "fuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fuse". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list