faible

/\fɛbl\/ adj

Letters

6 characters

Frequency Rank

#1,028

in French word usage

Misspellings

7

tracked variants

Confusables

20

similar word pairs

faible is anFrenchadj. It means: Qui est débile, qui manque de force, de vigueur. Pronounced \fɛbl\. It ranks #1,028 in French word frequency. Often confused with file and fail.

Key facts for faible
PropertyValue
Headwordfaible
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdj
IPA\fɛbl\
Letters6
Frequency rank#1,028
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of faible in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for faible is 6 letters long, classified as anadj, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \fɛbl\. Corpus data places it at rank #1,028 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 7 documented wrong-spelling variants for faible, with forms such as "afible", "fabile", and "faibble". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "file", "fail", "faire", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is faible, spelled F-A-I-B-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui est débile, qui manque de force, de vigueur.
  2. 2
    Qui est débile, qui manque de force, de vigueur.
  3. 3
    Qui manque de force morale, qui est trop indulgent, trop facile, sans fermeté.
  4. 4
    Qui manque de puissance, de ressources, etc.
  5. 5
    Qui n’a pas assez de grosseur, d’épaisseur, de force, de solidité, etc., en parlant des choses.
  6. 6
    Qui est peu fortifié.
  7. 7
    Qui est peu considérable en son genre sous le rapport de la quantité, de l’étendue, de la valeur, de l’intensité, de l’énergie, etc.
  8. 8
    Il s’emploie souvent avec les prépositions de ou en suivies d’un nom qui caractérise le genre de faiblesse.

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: afible,fabile,faibble,faibel,faiblle,failbe,ffaible

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for faible

Misspelling Variants of "faible"

afible6fabile6faibble7faibel6faiblle7failbe6ffaible7
Misspelling Variants of "faible"

Frequency rank: #1,028 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "faible"?
"faible" is spelled F-A-I-B-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \fɛbl\.
What does "faible" mean?
As an adj, "faible" means: Qui est débile, qui manque de force, de vigueur.
What words are commonly confused with "faible"?
"faible" is commonly confused with "file", "fail", "faire". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "faible"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "faible" is \fɛbl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "faible" come from?
"faible" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter F in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.