Which to use
“failles” is a noun and “failli” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,382
- “failles” frequency rank
- #4,669
- “failli” frequency rank
- 17051
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | failles | failli |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de faille. | 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 failles and failli
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses failles with failli
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: failles is \faj\ while failli is \fa.ji\. 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 17051, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
failles is recorded at frequency rank #12,382, classified as anoun, pronounced \faj\. 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 17051, this pair ranks #385,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of failles vs failli
Shared letters: afil. Private to "failles": es. Private to "failli": -.
"failles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "failli" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "failles" and "failli" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "failles" or "failli"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "failles" 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 #385,044 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "failles" and "failli" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "failles vs faires". 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 #385,044 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.