Which to use
“famille” and “family” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #244
- “famille” frequency rank
- #13,169
- “family” frequency rank
- 13413
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | famille | family |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ensemble formé par les parents et leurs enfants. | Famille. |
Where the eye mixes famille and family
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. famille runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against family's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: famille vs family
A purely visual mix-up. famille (\fa.mij\) and family (\ˈfæm.ə.li\) 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 13413, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
famille is recorded at frequency rank #244, classified as anoun, pronounced \fa.mij\. family is at rank #13,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈfæm.ə.li\.
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 13413, this pair ranks #401,127 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of famille vs family
Shared letters: afilm. Private to "famille": e. Private to "family": y.
"famille" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "family" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "famille" for "family" ever safe?
Which is more common, "famille" or "family"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "famille" and "family" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "famille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "family" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,127 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "famille" and "family" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "familia vs family". 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 #401,127 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.