Which to use
“farces” is a noun and “féroces” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,487
- “farces” frequency rank
- #26,019
- “féroces” frequency rank
- 57506
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | farces | féroces |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de farce. | Pluriel de féroce. |
Where the eye mixes farces and féroces
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. farces runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against féroces's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses farces with féroces
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: farces is \faʁs\ while féroces is \fe.ʁɔs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
farces is recorded at frequency rank #31,487, classified as anoun, pronounced \faʁs\. féroces is at rank #26,019, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fe.ʁɔs\.
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 57506, this pair ranks #114,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of farces vs féroces
Shared letters: cefrs. Private to "farces": a. Private to "féroces": oé.
"farces" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "féroces" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- farces ← afrces · facres · farcces · farcess · farcse · farecs · farrces · ffarces
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "farces" for "féroces" ever safe?
Which is more common, "farces" or "féroces"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "farces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "féroces" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #114,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "farces" and "féroces" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "farces vs Farnèse". 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 #114,622 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.