Which to use
“fâche” and “ficher” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,560
- “fâche” frequency rank
- #34,538
- “ficher” frequency rank
- 58098
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fâche | ficher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de fâcher. | Faire entrer par la pointe. |
Where the eye mixes fâche and ficher
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fâche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against ficher's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fâche vs ficher
A purely visual mix-up. fâche (\fɑʃ\) and ficher (\fi.ʃe\) 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 58098, 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\. ficher is at rank #34,538, tagged as averb, pronounced \fi.ʃe\.
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 58098, this pair ranks #111,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fâche vs ficher
Shared letters: cefh. Private to "fâche": â. Private to "ficher": ir.
"fâche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "ficher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ficher ← fciher · fficher · ficcher · ficehr · ficherr · fichher · fichre · fihcer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fâche" and "ficher" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fâche" or "ficher" show up more?
What to do next
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 "ficher" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,043 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fâche" and "ficher" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ficher vs Finger". 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 #111,043 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.