Which to use
“faille” is a noun and “false” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,087
- “faille” frequency rank
- #30,605
- “false” frequency rank
- 36692
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faille | false |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fracture, fissure avec rejet des deux blocs situés de part et d’autre de la cassure. | Faux. |
Where the eye mixes faille and false
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between faille and false
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faille is \faj\ while false is \ˈfɔls\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36692, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faille is recorded at frequency rank #6,087, classified as anoun, pronounced \faj\. false is at rank #30,605, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈfɔls\.
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 36692, this pair ranks #267,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of faille vs false
Shared letters: aefl. Private to "faille": i. Private to "false": s.
"faille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "false" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "faille" for "false" ever safe?
Which is more common, "faille" or "false"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "faille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "false" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #267,779 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faille" and "false" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "false vs fange". 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 #267,779 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.