Which to use
“faille” and “fouille” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,087
- “faille” frequency rank
- #11,056
- “fouille” frequency rank
- 17143
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faille | fouille |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fracture, fissure avec rejet des deux blocs situés de part et d’autre de la cassure. | Ouverture que l’on pratique dans la terre pour mettre à découvert ce qui y est enfermé ou pour faire les fondations d’une maison, pour creuser une mine, un canal, etc. |
Where the eye mixes faille and fouille
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. faille runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against fouille's 7 (CVVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: faille vs fouille
A purely visual mix-up. faille (\faj\) and fouille (\fuj\) 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 17143, 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\. fouille is at rank #11,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fuj\.
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 17143, this pair ranks #384,593 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faille vs fouille
Shared letters: efil. Private to "faille": a. Private to "fouille": ou.
"faille" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "fouille" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "faille" and "fouille" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "faille" or "fouille"?
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 "faille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouille" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #384,593 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faille" and "fouille" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouille vs fourmille". 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 #384,593 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.