Which to use
“fais” and “fui” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #190
- “fais” frequency rank
- #9,318
- “fui” frequency rank
- 9508
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fais | fui |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de faire. | Participe passé masculin singulier de fuir. |
Where the eye mixes fais and fui
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. fais (\fɛ\) and fui (\fɥi\) 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 9508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fais is recorded at frequency rank #190, classified as averb, pronounced \fɛ\. fui is at rank #9,318, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɥi\.
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 9508, this pair ranks #416,389 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fais vs fui
Shared letters: fi. Private to "fais": as. Private to "fui": u.
"fais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fui" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fais ← afis · faiss · fasi · ffais · fias
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fais" and "fui" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fais" or "fui"?
What to do next
You've compared "fais" and "fui". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "fais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,389 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fais" and "fui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fui". 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.