faitesvsfrisesTell them apart

Quick tell: faites is a adjective, frises is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“faites” is an adjective and “frises” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#506
“faites” frequency rank
#46,777
“frises” frequency rank
47283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faites frises
Definition Féminin pluriel de fait. Pluriel de frise.

Where the eye mixes faites and frises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. faites (CVVCVC) and frises (CCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
faites
6 ch
frises

Why the eye confuses faites with frises

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faites is \fɛt\ while frises is \fʁiz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faites is recorded at frequency rank #506, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɛt\. frises is at rank #46,777, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁiz\.

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 47283, this pair ranks #188,163 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of faites vs frises

Shared letters: efis. Private to "faites": at. Private to "frises": r.

"faites" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "frises" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faitesafites · faiets · faitess · faitse · faittes · faties · ffaites · fiates
  • frisesffrises · firses · frisess · frisses · frrises · frsies · rfises

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "faites" and "frises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "faites" is an adjective and "frises" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "faites" vs "frises" - which ranks higher?
"faites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #506 in our French list, against #46,777 for "frises". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "faites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "frises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #188,163 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faites" and "frises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs frises". 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 #188,163 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