Which to use
“faible” and “failli” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,028
- “faible” frequency rank
- #4,669
- “failli” frequency rank
- 5697
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faible | failli |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est débile, qui manque de force, de vigueur. | Se dit d'un chevron, d'une bande, d'une fasce, d'un pal, d'un meuble quelconque, dont la longueur ou la largeur se trouve interrompue par un vide parfaitement carré ou le séparant en deux. |
Where the eye mixes faible and failli
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses faible with failli
A purely visual mix-up. faible (\fɛbl\) and failli (\fa.ji\) 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 5697, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faible is recorded at frequency rank #1,028, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɛbl\. failli is at rank #4,669, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fa.ji\.
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 5697, this pair ranks #428,300 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faible vs failli
Shared letters: afil. Private to "faible": be. Private to "failli": -.
"faible" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "failli" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "faible" for "failli" ever safe?
Frequency check: "faible" vs "failli" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "faible" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "failli" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,300 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faible" and "failli" 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
Confusion rank #428,300 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.