Which to use
“fake” is an adjective and “fakes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,854
- “fake” frequency rank
- #48,524
- “fakes” frequency rank
- 57378
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fake | fakes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faux. | Pluriel de fake. |
Same sound, different letters: fake vs fakes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. fake runs 4 letters (CVCV) against fakes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: fake vs fakes
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fake and fakes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fɛk\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fake” sits inside “fakes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57378, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fake is recorded at frequency rank #8,854, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɛk\. fakes is at rank #48,524, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛk\.
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 57378, this pair ranks #115,400 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fake vs fakes
Shared letters: aefk. Private to "fake": -. Private to "fakes": s.
"fake" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fakes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fake" for "fakes" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fake" or "fakes" show up more?
Useful next steps
"fake" and "fakes" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "fake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fakes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,400 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fake" and "fakes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fage vs fakes". 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 #115,400 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.