fablesvsfaillesTell them apart

Which to use

“fables” and “failles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#21,620
“fables” frequency rank
#12,382
“failles” frequency rank
34002
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fables failles
Definition Pluriel de fable. Pluriel de faille.

Where the eye mixes fables and failles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
fables
7 ch
failles

Look-alike desk: fables vs failles

A purely visual mix-up. fables (\fabl\) and failles (\faj\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fables is recorded at frequency rank #21,620, classified as anoun, pronounced \fabl\. failles is at rank #12,382, tagged as anoun, pronounced \faj\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 34002, this pair ranks #286,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fables vs failles

Shared letters: aefls. Private to "fables": b. Private to "failles": i.

"fables" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "failles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fablesafbles · fabbles · fabels · fabless · fablles · fablse · falbes · fbales
  • faillesafilles · failels · failes · failless · faillse · faliles · ffailles · fialles

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fables" and "failles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\fabl\ versus \faj\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fables" or "failles"?
"failles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,382 in our French list, against #21,620 for "fables". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "fables" and "failles" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fables" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "failles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #286,812 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fables" and "failles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fables vs fakes". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #286,812 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list