fablesvsfaitesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fables is a noun, faites is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fables” is a noun and “faites” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,620
“fables” frequency rank
#506
“faites” frequency rank
22126
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fables faites
Definition Pluriel de fable. Féminin pluriel de fait.

Where the eye mixes fables and faites

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
fables
6 ch
faites

Why the eye confuses fables with faites

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fables is \fabl\ while faites is \fɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22126, 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\. faites is at rank #506, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɛt\.

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 22126, this pair ranks #359,707 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fables vs faites

Shared letters: aefs. Private to "fables": bl. Private to "faites": it.

"fables" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "faites" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fablesafbles · fabbles · fabels · fabless · fablles · fablse · falbes · fbales
  • faitesafites · faiets · faitess · faitse · faittes · faties · ffaites · fiates

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fables" and "faites" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fables" is a noun and "faites" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fables" or "faites"?
"faites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #506 in our French list, against #21,620 for "fables". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "fables" and "faites" 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 "faites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #359,707 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fables" and "faites" 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 #359,707 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