fâchevsFCPEWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fâche is a verb, FCPE is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fâche” is a verb and “FCPE” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,560
“fâche” frequency rank
#48,528
“FCPE” frequency rank
72088
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fâche FCPE
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de fâcher. Investissement réservé aux salariés d'une entreprise.

Where the eye mixes fâche and FCPE

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fâche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against FCPE's 4 (CCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
fâche
4 ch
FCPE

Why the eye confuses fâche with FCPE

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fâche is \fɑʃ\ while FCPE is \ɛf.se.pe.ø\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fâche is recorded at frequency rank #23,560, classified as averb, pronounced \fɑʃ\. FCPE is at rank #48,528, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛf.se.pe.ø\.

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 72088, this pair ranks #45,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fâche vs FCPE

Shared letters: cef. Private to "fâche": hâ. Private to "FCPE": p.

"fâche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "FCPE" · 4 letters · shape CCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • FCPE ← cfpe · fccpe · fcep · fcppe · ffcpe · fpce

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fâche" and "FCPE" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fâche" is a verb and "FCPE" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fâche" vs "FCPE" - which ranks higher?
"fâche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,560 in our French list, against #48,528 for "FCPE". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fâche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "FCPE" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #45,253 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fâche" and "FCPE" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "FCPE vs Fee". 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 #45,253 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