faisansvsfaisantWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: faisans is a noun, faisant is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“faisans” is a noun and “faisant” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,523
“faisans” frequency rank
#821
“faisant” frequency rank
49344
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faisans faisant
Definition Pluriel de faisan. Participe présent du verbe faire.

Same sound, different letters: faisans vs faisant

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

7 ch
faisans
7 ch
faisant

Homophone desk: faisans vs faisant

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: faisans and faisant carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fə.zɑ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - s in “faisans” becomes t in “faisant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49344, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faisans is recorded at frequency rank #48,523, classified as anoun, pronounced \fə.zɑ̃\. faisant is at rank #821, tagged as averb, pronounced \fə.zɑ̃\.

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 49344, this pair ranks #171,466 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of faisans vs faisant

Shared letters: afins. Private to "faisans": -. Private to "faisant": t.

"faisans" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "faisant" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faisansafisans · faiasns · faisanns · faisanss · faisasn · faisnas · faissans · fasians
  • faisantafisant · faiasnt · faisannt · faisantt · faisatn · faisnat · faissant · fasiant

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faisans" and "faisant" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "faisans" is a noun and "faisant" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "faisans" or "faisant"?
"faisant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #821 in our French list, against #48,523 for "faisans". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "faisans" / "faisant". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "faisans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "faisant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #171,466 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faisans" and "faisant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faisan vs faisans". 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 #171,466 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list