Which to use
“fusée” and “fusil” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,665
- “fusée” frequency rank
- #5,661
- “fusil” frequency rank
- 15326
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fusée | fusil |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quantité de fil qui est contenu sur un fuseau, quand la filasse est filée. | Petite pièce d’acier avec laquelle on battait un silex pour en tirer du feu. |
Where the eye mixes fusée and fusil
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fusée (CVCVV) and fusil (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses fusée with fusil
A purely visual mix-up. fusée (\fy.ze\) and fusil (\fy.zi\) 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 15326, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fusée is recorded at frequency rank #9,665, classified as anoun, pronounced \fy.ze\. fusil is at rank #5,661, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fy.zi\.
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 15326, this pair ranks #392,836 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fusée vs fusil
Shared letters: fsu. Private to "fusée": eé. Private to "fusil": il.
"fusée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "fusil" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fusil ← ffusil · fsuil · fuisl · fusill · fusli · fussil · ufsil
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fusée" and "fusil" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "fusée" or "fusil" show up more?
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 "fusée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fusil" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #392,836 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fusée" and "fusil" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fusée". 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 #392,836 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.