Which to use
“facile” and “faible” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #654
- “facile” frequency rank
- #1,028
- “faible” frequency rank
- 1682
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | facile | faible |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui se fait sans peine. | Qui est débile, qui manque de force, de vigueur. |
Where the eye mixes facile and faible
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. facile (\fa.sil\) and faible (\fɛbl\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1682, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
facile is recorded at frequency rank #654, classified as anadj, pronounced \fa.sil\. faible is at rank #1,028, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fɛbl\.
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 1682, this pair ranks #437,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of facile vs faible
Shared letters: aefil. Private to "facile": c. Private to "faible": b.
"facile" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "faible" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "facile" and "faible" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "facile" or "faible"?
What to do next
You've compared "facile" and "faible". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "facile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faible" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,583 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "facile" and "faible" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faible vs friable". 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.