fâcheusevsfaucheuseTell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,604
“fâcheuse” frequency rank
#49,652
“faucheuse” frequency rank
74256
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fâcheuse faucheuse
Definition Femme importune ou déplaisante. Celle qui fauche (souvent dans un sens figuré).

Where the eye mixes fâcheuse and faucheuse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. fâcheuse runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCV) against faucheuse's 9 (CVVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
fâcheuse
9 ch
faucheuse

Visual trap between fâcheuse and faucheuse

A purely visual mix-up. fâcheuse (\fɑ.ʃøz\) and faucheuse (\fo.ʃøz\) 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 74256, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fâcheuse is recorded at frequency rank #24,604, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɑ.ʃøz\. faucheuse is at rank #49,652, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fo.ʃøz\.

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 74256, this pair ranks #37,709 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fâcheuse vs faucheuse

Shared letters: cefhsu. Private to "fâcheuse": â. Private to "faucheuse": a.

"fâcheuse" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV  ·  "faucheuse" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faucheuse ← afucheuse · facuheuse · fauccheuse · faucehuse · fauchesue · faucheues · faucheusse · fauchheuse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fâcheuse" and "faucheuse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\fɑ.ʃøz\ versus \fo.ʃøz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fâcheuse" or "faucheuse"?
"fâcheuse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,604 in our French list, against #49,652 for "faucheuse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "fâcheuse" and "faucheuse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fâcheuse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "faucheuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #37,709 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fâcheuse" and "faucheuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fâcheuse vs fâcheux". 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 #37,709 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list