Which to use
“failli” is an adjective and “faillit” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,669
- “failli” frequency rank
- #19,834
- “faillit” frequency rank
- 24503
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | failli | faillit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de faillir. |
Same sound, different letters: failli vs faillit
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - failli / faillit
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: failli and faillit carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fa.ji\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “failli” sits inside “faillit”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24503, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
failli is recorded at frequency rank #4,669, classified as anadj, pronounced \fa.ji\. faillit is at rank #19,834, tagged as averb, 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 24503, this pair ranks #346,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of failli vs faillit
Shared letters: afil. Private to "failli": -. Private to "faillit": t.
"failli" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "faillit" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "failli" and "faillit" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "failli" or "faillit" show up more?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "failli" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faillit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #346,251 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "failli" and "faillit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faiblir vs faillit". 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 #346,251 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.