fâchéevsfacileWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“fâchée” and “facile” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,452
“fâchée” frequency rank
#654
“facile” frequency rank
28106
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fâchée facile
Definition Féminin singulier de fâché. Qui se fait sans peine.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fâchée and facile apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
fâchée
6 ch
facile

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fâchée (\fɑ.ʃe\) and facile (\fa.sil\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28106, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fâchée is recorded at frequency rank #27,452, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɑ.ʃe\. facile is at rank #654, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fa.sil\.

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 28106, this pair ranks #324,883 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fâchée vs facile

Shared letters: cef. Private to "fâchée": hâé. Private to "facile": ail.

"fâchée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "facile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • facileafcile · faccile · faciel · facille · faclie · faicle · fcaile · ffacile

Frequency comparison

fâchée#27,452
facile#654

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fâchée" and "facile" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fɑ.ʃe\ versus \fa.sil\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fâchée" or "facile"?
"facile" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #654 in our French list, against #27,452 for "fâchée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering fâchée vs facile

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fâchée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list