Which to use
“famille” and “famine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #244
- “famille” frequency rank
- #10,500
- “famine” frequency rank
- 10744
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | famille | famine |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ensemble formé par les parents et leurs enfants. | Indisponibilité générale des aliments les plus essentiels. |
Where the eye mixes famille and famine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. famille runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against famine's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses famille with famine
A purely visual mix-up. famille (\fa.mij\) and famine (\fa.min\) 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 10744, 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\. famine is at rank #10,500, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fa.min\.
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 10744, this pair ranks #411,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of famille vs famine
Shared letters: aefim. Private to "famille": l. Private to "famine": n.
"famille" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "famine" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "famille" for "famine" ever safe?
Frequency check: "famille" vs "famine" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "famille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "famine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #411,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "famille" and "famine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "famine vs féline". 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 #411,806 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.