Which to use
“fureur” is a noun and “furieux” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,164
- “fureur” frequency rank
- #9,010
- “furieux” frequency rank
- 21174
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fureur | furieux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Égarement d’esprit qui tient de la rage et de la frénésie. | Qui est en fureur ; qui est en furie. |
Where the eye mixes fureur and furieux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fureur runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against furieux's 7 (CVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fureur with furieux
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fureur is \fy.ʁœʁ\ while furieux is \fy.ʁjø\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fureur is recorded at frequency rank #12,164, classified as anoun, pronounced \fy.ʁœʁ\. furieux is at rank #9,010, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fy.ʁjø\.
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 21174, this pair ranks #364,506 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fureur vs furieux
Shared letters: efru. Private to "fureur": -. Private to "furieux": ix.
"fureur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "furieux" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fureur" and "furieux" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "fureur" or "furieux" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fureur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "furieux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #364,506 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fureur" and "furieux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "farceur vs fureur". 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 #364,506 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.