failed
\feɪld\
The verdict
“failed” is uncommon French (frequency #79,302 among 137,178 “F” headwords), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #79,302
- frequency rank, French
- 137,178
- “F” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Prétérit du verbe to fail.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | failed |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \feɪld\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #79,302 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “failed” sits in French frequency
Rare enough to double-check
failed is uncommon French at frequency #79,302 among 137,178 “F” headwords, classed as averb, transcribed \feɪld\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
failed has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is failed, spelled F-A-I-L-E-D.
Definition
- 1Prétérit du verbe to fail.
- 2Participe passé du verbe to fail.
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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “failed”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is F-A-I-L-E-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \feɪld\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Other uncommon French words near this rank
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.