Which to use
“faciales” and “failles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,426
- “faciales” frequency rank
- #12,382
- “failles” frequency rank
- 55808
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faciales | failles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de faciale. | Pluriel de faille. |
Where the eye mixes faciales and failles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. faciales runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVC) against failles's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between faciales and failles
A purely visual mix-up. faciales (\fa.sjal\) and failles (\faj\) 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 55808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faciales is recorded at frequency rank #43,426, classified as anoun, pronounced \fa.sjal\. failles is at rank #12,382, tagged as anoun, pronounced \faj\.
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 55808, this pair ranks #125,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of faciales vs failles
Shared letters: aefils. Private to "faciales": c. Private to "failles": -.
"faciales" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC · "failles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "faciales" for "failles" ever safe?
Frequency check: "faciales" vs "failles" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "faciales" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "failles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #125,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faciales" and "failles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faciales vs fatales". 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 #125,099 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.