diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 33d20a45bf..2278f24864 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ Features added
 * #9691: C, added new info-field ``retval``
   for :rst:dir:`c:function` and :rst:dir:`c:macro`.
 * C++, added new info-field ``retval`` for :rst:dir:`cpp:function`.
+* #9618: i18n: Add :confval:`gettext_allow_fuzzy_translations` to allow "fuzzy"
+  messages for translation
 * #9672: More CSS classes on Python domain descriptions
 * #9695: More CSS classes on Javascript domain descriptions
 * #9683: Revert the removal of ``add_stylesheet()`` API.  It will be kept until
diff --git a/doc/usage/configuration.rst b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
index 46c82e56d5..6725bd3e0c 100644
--- a/doc/usage/configuration.rst
+++ b/doc/usage/configuration.rst
@@ -802,6 +802,13 @@ documentation on :ref:`intl` for details.
    .. versionchanged:: 1.5
       Use ``locales`` directory as a default value
 
+.. confval:: gettext_allow_fuzzy_translations
+
+   If true, "fuzzy" messages in the message catalogs are used for translation.
+   The default is ``False``.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 4.3
+
 .. confval:: gettext_compact
 
    .. versionadded:: 1.1
diff --git a/sphinx/application.py b/sphinx/application.py
index 4a75a83fec..ec0234a4e6 100644
--- a/sphinx/application.py
+++ b/sphinx/application.py
@@ -284,7 +284,8 @@ def _init_i18n(self) -> None:
                                      self.config.language, self.config.source_encoding)
             for catalog in repo.catalogs:
                 if catalog.domain == 'sphinx' and catalog.is_outdated():
-                    catalog.write_mo(self.config.language)
+                    catalog.write_mo(self.config.language,
+                                     self.config.gettext_allow_fuzzy_translations)
 
             locale_dirs: List[Optional[str]] = list(repo.locale_dirs)
             locale_dirs += [None]
diff --git a/sphinx/builders/__init__.py b/sphinx/builders/__init__.py
index 5ad9895390..64c621a1c5 100644
--- a/sphinx/builders/__init__.py
+++ b/sphinx/builders/__init__.py
@@ -217,7 +217,8 @@ def cat2relpath(cat: CatalogInfo) -> str:
         for catalog in status_iterator(catalogs, __('writing output... '), "darkgreen",
                                        len(catalogs), self.app.verbosity,
                                        stringify_func=cat2relpath):
-            catalog.write_mo(self.config.language)
+            catalog.write_mo(self.config.language,
+                             self.config.gettext_allow_fuzzy_translations)
 
     def compile_all_catalogs(self) -> None:
         repo = CatalogRepository(self.srcdir, self.config.locale_dirs,
diff --git a/sphinx/config.py b/sphinx/config.py
index 2ca20cb488..05bcdeccc5 100644
--- a/sphinx/config.py
+++ b/sphinx/config.py
@@ -103,6 +103,7 @@ class Config:
         'language': (None, 'env', [str]),
         'locale_dirs': (['locales'], 'env', []),
         'figure_language_filename': ('{root}.{language}{ext}', 'env', [str]),
+        'gettext_allow_fuzzy_translations': (False, 'gettext', []),
 
         'master_doc': ('index', 'env', []),
         'root_doc': (lambda config: config.master_doc, 'env', []),
diff --git a/sphinx/util/i18n.py b/sphinx/util/i18n.py
index e82e33f578..02b42cf0b3 100644
--- a/sphinx/util/i18n.py
+++ b/sphinx/util/i18n.py
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ def is_outdated(self) -> bool:
             not path.exists(self.mo_path) or
             path.getmtime(self.mo_path) < path.getmtime(self.po_path))
 
-    def write_mo(self, locale: str) -> None:
+    def write_mo(self, locale: str, use_fuzzy: bool = False) -> None:
         with open(self.po_path, encoding=self.charset) as file_po:
             try:
                 po = read_po(file_po, locale)
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def write_mo(self, locale: str) -> None:
 
         with open(self.mo_path, 'wb') as file_mo:
             try:
-                write_mo(file_mo, po)
+                write_mo(file_mo, po, use_fuzzy)
             except Exception as exc:
                 logger.warning(__('writing error: %s, %s'), self.mo_path, exc)
 
diff --git a/tests/test_intl.py b/tests/test_intl.py
index 30beb11355..3b54063efc 100644
--- a/tests/test_intl.py
+++ b/tests/test_intl.py
@@ -1301,6 +1301,44 @@ def getwarning(warnings):
     return strip_escseq(warnings.getvalue().replace(os.sep, '/'))
 
 
+@pytest.mark.sphinx('html', testroot='basic',
+                    srcdir='gettext_allow_fuzzy_translations',
+                    confoverrides={
+                        'language': 'de',
+                        'gettext_allow_fuzzy_translations': True
+                    })
+def test_gettext_allow_fuzzy_translations(app):
+    locale_dir = app.srcdir / 'locales' / 'de' / 'LC_MESSAGES'
+    locale_dir.makedirs()
+    with (locale_dir / 'index.po').open('wb') as f:
+        catalog = Catalog()
+        catalog.add('features', 'FEATURES', flags=('fuzzy',))
+        pofile.write_po(f, catalog)
+
+    app.build()
+    content = (app.outdir / 'index.html').read_text()
+    assert 'FEATURES' in content
+
+
+@pytest.mark.sphinx('html', testroot='basic',
+                    srcdir='gettext_disallow_fuzzy_translations',
+                    confoverrides={
+                        'language': 'de',
+                        'gettext_allow_fuzzy_translations': False
+                    })
+def test_gettext_disallow_fuzzy_translations(app):
+    locale_dir = app.srcdir / 'locales' / 'de' / 'LC_MESSAGES'
+    locale_dir.makedirs()
+    with (locale_dir / 'index.po').open('wb') as f:
+        catalog = Catalog()
+        catalog.add('features', 'FEATURES', flags=('fuzzy',))
+        pofile.write_po(f, catalog)
+
+    app.build()
+    content = (app.outdir / 'index.html').read_text()
+    assert 'FEATURES' not in content
+
+
 @pytest.mark.sphinx('html', testroot='basic', confoverrides={'language': 'de'})
 def test_customize_system_message(make_app, app_params, sphinx_test_tempdir):
     try: