fault
\faʊ̯lt\
The verdict
“fault” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #46,753 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #46,753
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’impératif présent de faulen.
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 | fault |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \faʊ̯lt\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #46,753 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fault” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for fault is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \faʊ̯lt\. Corpus data places it at rank #46,753 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for fault, with forms such as "afult", "faullt", and "faultt". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fût", "faut", "faux", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is fault, spelled F-A-U-L-T.
Definition
- 1Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’impératif présent de faulen.
- 2Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de faulen.
- 3Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de faulen.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: afult,faullt,faultt,fautl,ffault,fualt
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fault - 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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "fault"?
What does "fault" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "fault"?
How do you pronounce "fault"?
What language does "fault" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “fault”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is F-A-U-L-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \faʊ̯lt\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fût” - see the side-by-side comparison. fault vs fût
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
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.