Which to use
“fâche” is a verb and “fiche” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,560
- “fâche” frequency rank
- #1,917
- “fiche” frequency rank
- 25477
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fâche | fiche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de fâcher. | Action de ficher, d’enfoncer ; quantité dont on enfonce dans le sol un pieu de fondation. |
Where the eye mixes fâche and fiche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fâche and fiche follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between fâche and fiche
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fâche is \fɑʃ\ while fiche is \fiʃ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - â in “fâche” becomes i in “fiche”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25477, 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\. fiche is at rank #1,917, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fiʃ\.
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 25477, this pair ranks #340,631 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fâche vs fiche
Shared letters: cefh. Private to "fâche": â. Private to "fiche": i.
"fâche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fiche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fiche ← fcihe · ffiche · ficche · ficeh · fichhe · fihce · ifche
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fâche" for "fiche" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fâche" or "fiche" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fâche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fiche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,631 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fâche" and "fiche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fâche vs fange". 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 #340,631 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.