faux
\fo\
The verdict
“faux” is in the everyday core of French, ranked #920 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #920
- frequency rank, French
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui n’est pas conforme, ou qui ne se conforme pas à la réalité. Quand il s’agit des idées et des sentiments, et de leur expression, il signifie que ces idées, ces sentiments ou leur expression sont...
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 | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \fo\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #920 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “faux” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for faux is 4 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \fo\. Corpus data places it at rank #920 in overall French word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 11 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for faux, with forms such as "afux", "fauxx", and "faxu". 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, "feu", "fou", "fun", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
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 faux, spelled F-A-U-X.
Definition
- 1Qui n’est pas conforme, ou qui ne se conforme pas à la réalité. Quand il s’agit des idées et des sentiments, et de leur expression, il signifie que ces idées, ces sentiments ou leur expression sont contraires à la réalité par erreur ou par imposture.
- 2Vain et infondé.
- 3Ce qui s’écarte du naturel.
- 4Qui manque d’exactitude, de justesse ou de rectitude.
- 5Qui, soit volontairement et dans un dessein de mensonge, soit involontairement, par suite d’insuffisance, ne répondent pas à leur nom, à leur nature présumée ou à leurs apparences.
- 6Qui est postiche ou contrefait, sans qu’il y ait dans l’objet postiche ou dans la contrefaçon une intention de simulation frauduleuse.
- 7Qualifie des phénomènes ou des objets qui présentent l’apparence de phénomènes ou d’objets différents en réalité et peuvent ainsi causer des méprises.
- 8Qualifie des objets ou à des actes irréguliers, incorrects, insuffisants, manquant à leur destination.
- 9Qui n’est pas juste ; qui n’est pas dans le ton.
- 10Qui n’est pas ce qu’elle semble ou ce qu’elle dit être, en parlant d’une personne.
- 11Qui affecte des sentiments qu’il n’a pas, dans le dessein de tromper.
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 - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "faux"?
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Using “faux”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is F-A-U-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \fo\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “feu” - see the side-by-side comparison. faux vs feu
- 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.