Which to use
“fume” and “fumes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,965
- “fume” frequency rank
- #22,870
- “fumes” frequency rank
- 30835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fume | fumes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de fumer. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de fumer. |
Same sound, different letters: fume vs fumes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - fume and fumes
This is the hard kind. fume and fumes are pronounced identically (\fym\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fume” sits inside “fumes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fume is recorded at frequency rank #7,965, classified as averb, pronounced \fym\. fumes is at rank #22,870, tagged as averb, pronounced \fym\.
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 30835, this pair ranks #307,682 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fume vs fumes
Shared letters: efmu. Private to "fume": -. Private to "fumes": s.
"fume" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fumes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fume" and "fumes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fume" vs "fumes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "fume" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fumes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #307,682 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fume" and "fumes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fakes vs fumes". 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 #307,682 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.