Which to use
“fâcher” and “ficher” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,221
- “fâcher” frequency rank
- #34,538
- “ficher” frequency rank
- 57759
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fâcher | ficher |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mettre en colère, irriter. | Faire entrer par la pointe. |
Where the eye mixes fâcher and ficher
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fâcher and ficher follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses fâcher with ficher
A purely visual mix-up. fâcher (\fɑ.ʃe\) 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 a single letter - â in “fâcher” becomes i in “ficher”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57759, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fâcher is recorded at frequency rank #23,221, classified as averb, pronounced \fɑ.ʃe\. 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 57759, this pair ranks #113,139 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fâcher vs ficher
Shared letters: cefhr. Private to "fâcher": â. Private to "ficher": i.
"fâcher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "ficher" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ficher ← fciher · fficher · ficcher · ficehr · ficherr · fichher · fichre · fihcer
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fâcher" and "ficher" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "fâcher" or "ficher" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fâcher" and "ficher" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fâcher" 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 #113,139 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fâcher" 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 #113,139 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.