faux
/fəʊ/
"faux" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“faux” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #13,914. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #13,914
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Fake or artificial.
Corpus desk
Index EN-faux · faux · English
faux · rank #13,914 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #13,914
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH favoured
Nearest frequency peer: favoured (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “faux”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- educator
educator
86,090 corpus weight
- entitlement
entitlement
86,089 corpus weight
- faux
faux
86,087 corpus weight
- favoured
favoured
86,086 corpus weight
- fearless
fearless
86,085 corpus weight
- finch
finch
86,084 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “faux” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | faux |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /fəʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #13,914 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “faux” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around faux (IPA /fəʊ/), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #13,914 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Dominant gloss: "Fake or artificial.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for faux, with forms such as "afux", "fauxx", and "faxu". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fu", "fun", "fix", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: Unadapted borrowing from French faux. Doublet of false. The correct English form is faux, spelled F-A-U-X.
Definition
- 1Fake or artificial.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how faux appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He modernizes the faux-archaic “withouten wind, withouten tide” to the more pointed and concrete “without a breeze, without a tide.”
Because mahoganies yield a supple fine-grained wood, they are often used as veneer wood. With proper technique and graining tools, all of these variations can be produced in faux wood.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French faux. Doublet of false.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- afux
- fauxx
- faxu
- ffaux
- fuax
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of faux - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "faux"?
What does "faux" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "faux"?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "faux", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "faux". Here's where to go from here.
- "faux" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "fu". View pair
- 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #13,914 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "F" letter cohort. F–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.