Which to use
“fusible” and “futile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,365
- “fusible” frequency rank
- #25,329
- “futile” frequency rank
- 54694
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fusible | futile |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui peut être fondu ou liquéfié. | Qui est frivole, qui est de peu de conséquence, de peu de considération. |
Where the eye mixes fusible and futile
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fusible runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against futile's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fusible vs futile
A purely visual mix-up. fusible (\fy.zibl\) and futile (\fy.til\) 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 54694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fusible is recorded at frequency rank #29,365, classified as anadj, pronounced \fy.zibl\. futile is at rank #25,329, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fy.til\.
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 54694, this pair ranks #132,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fusible vs futile
Shared letters: efilu. Private to "fusible": bs. Private to "futile": t.
"fusible" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "futile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fusible" and "futile" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fusible" or "futile" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fusible" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "futile" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #132,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fusible" and "futile" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fétide vs futile". 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 #132,297 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.