Which to use
“facts” and “fakes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,288
- “facts” frequency rank
- #48,524
- “fakes” frequency rank
- 86812
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | facts | fakes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de fact. | Pluriel de fake. |
Where the eye mixes facts and fakes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. facts (CVCCC) and fakes (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between facts and fakes
A purely visual mix-up. facts (\ˈfækts\) and fakes (\fɛk\) 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 86812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
facts is recorded at frequency rank #38,288, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈfækts\. fakes is at rank #48,524, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛk\.
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 86812, this pair ranks #9,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of facts vs fakes
Shared letters: afs. Private to "facts": ct. Private to "fakes": ek.
"facts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "fakes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "facts" for "fakes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "facts" vs "fakes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "facts" and "fakes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "facts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fakes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "facts" and "fakes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fage vs fakes". 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 #9,141 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.