Which to use
“faibles” and “faires” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,257
- “faibles” frequency rank
- #46,749
- “faires” frequency rank
- 50006
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faibles | faires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de faible. | Accusatif neutre singulier de la déclinaison forte de fair. |
Where the eye mixes faibles and faires
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. faibles runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against faires's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses faibles with faires
A purely visual mix-up. faibles (\fɛbl\) and faires (\ˈfɛːʁəs\) 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 50006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faibles is recorded at frequency rank #3,257, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɛbl\. faires is at rank #46,749, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈfɛːʁəs\.
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 50006, this pair ranks #166,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of faibles vs faires
Shared letters: aefis. Private to "faibles": bl. Private to "faires": r.
"faibles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "faires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "faibles" and "faires" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "faibles" vs "faires" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "faibles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faibles" and "faires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faires 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 #166,046 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.