Which to use
“peur” and “pneu” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #467
- “peur” frequency rank
- #13,232
- “pneu” frequency rank
- 13699
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peur | pneu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Crainte, frayeur, émotion pénible produite par l’idée ou la vue d’un danger. | Enveloppe souple remplie d’air qui entoure une roue et assure son contact avec le sol, inventée en 1888. |
Where the eye mixes peur and pneu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. peur (CVVC) and pneu (CCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between peur and pneu
A purely visual mix-up. peur (\pœʁ\) and pneu (\pnø\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peur is recorded at frequency rank #467, classified as anoun, pronounced \pœʁ\. pneu is at rank #13,232, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pnø\.
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 13699, this pair ranks #399,902 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of peur vs pneu
Shared letters: epu. Private to "peur": r. Private to "pneu": n.
"peur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "pneu" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "peur" for "pneu" ever safe?
Which is more common, "peur" or "pneu"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "peur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pneu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,902 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peur" and "pneu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pneu vs prep". 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 #399,902 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.