farouchevsfarouchesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“farouche” and “farouches” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,139
“farouche” frequency rank
#43,428
“farouches” frequency rank
63567
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature farouche farouches
Definition Sauvage, indompté, qui s’enfuit quand on l’approche, en parlant des bêtes. Pluriel de farouche.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set farouche and farouches apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
farouche
9 ch
farouches

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. farouche and farouches are pronounced identically (\fa.ʁuʃ\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “farouche” sits inside “farouches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

farouche is recorded at frequency rank #20,139, classified as anadj, pronounced \fa.ʁuʃ\. farouches is at rank #43,428, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fa.ʁuʃ\.

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 63567, this pair ranks #81,339 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of farouche vs farouches

Shared letters: acefhoru. Private to "farouche": -. Private to "farouches": s.

"farouche" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCCV  ·  "farouches" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faroucheafrouche · faoruche · farocuhe · faroucche · farouceh · farouchhe · farouhce · farrouche
  • farouchesafrouches · faoruches · farocuhes · faroucches · faroucehs · farouchess · farouchhes · farouchse

Frequency comparison

farouche#20,139
farouches#43,428

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "farouche" and "farouches" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\fa.ʁuʃ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "farouche" or "farouches"?
"farouche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,139 in our French list, against #43,428 for "farouches". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering farouche vs farouches

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “farouche” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list