faisceauvsfaisceauxWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“faisceau” and “faisceaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#13,596
“faisceau” frequency rank
#22,263
“faisceaux” frequency rank
35859
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faisceau faisceaux
Definition Assemblage de certaines choses de même nature et de forme allongée liées ensemble. Pluriel de faisceau.

Same sound, different letters: faisceau vs faisceaux

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. faisceau runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVV) against faisceaux's 9 (CVVCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
faisceau
9 ch
faisceaux

Same sound, different spelling - faisceau / faisceaux

This is the hard kind. faisceau and faisceaux are pronounced identically (\fɛ.so\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “faisceau” sits inside “faisceaux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faisceau is recorded at frequency rank #13,596, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛ.so\. faisceaux is at rank #22,263, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛ.so\.

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 35859, this pair ranks #273,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of faisceau vs faisceaux

Shared letters: acefisu. Private to "faisceau": -. Private to "faisceaux": x.

"faisceau" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVV  ·  "faisceaux" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faisceau ← afisceau · faicseau · faiscaeu · faiscceau · faisceua · faisecau · faissceau · fasiceau
  • faisceaux ← afisceaux · faicseaux · faiscaeux · faiscceaux · faisceauxx · faisceaxu · faisceuax · faisecaux

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "faisceau" for "faisceaux" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\fɛ.so\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "faisceau" vs "faisceaux" - which ranks higher?
"faisceau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,596 in our French list, against #22,263 for "faisceaux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "faisceau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "faisceaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #273,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faisceau" and "faisceaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faisceaux vs fiscaux". 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 #273,726 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