Which to use
“fâche” is a verb and “friche” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,560
- “fâche” frequency rank
- #26,735
- “friche” frequency rank
- 50295
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fâche | friche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de fâcher. | Terrain inculte, soit qu’on ne l’ait jamais cultivé, soit que la culture en ait été interrompue. |
Where the eye mixes fâche and friche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fâche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against friche's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fâche vs friche
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fâche is \fɑʃ\ while friche is \fʁiʃ\. 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 50295, 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\. friche is at rank #26,735, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁiʃ\.
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 50295, this pair ranks #163,788 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fâche vs friche
Shared letters: cefh. Private to "fâche": â. Private to "friche": ir.
"fâche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "friche" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- friche ← ffriche · firche · frcihe · fricche · friceh · frichhe · frihce · frriche
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fâche" for "friche" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fâche" vs "friche" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fâche" and "friche" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fâche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "friche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #163,788 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fâche" and "friche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "friche vs fringe". 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 #163,788 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.