Which to use
“fauche” and “friche” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,429
- “fauche” frequency rank
- #26,735
- “friche” frequency rank
- 70164
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fauche | friche |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de faucher. | Terrain inculte, soit qu’on ne l’ait jamais cultivé, soit que la culture en ait été interrompue. |
Where the eye mixes fauche and friche
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fauche (CVVCCV) and friche (CCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: fauche vs friche
A purely visual mix-up. fauche (\foʃ\) and friche (\fʁiʃ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70164, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fauche is recorded at frequency rank #43,429, classified as anoun, pronounced \foʃ\. friche is at rank #26,735, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁiʃ\.
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 70164, this pair ranks #52,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fauche vs friche
Shared letters: cefh. Private to "fauche": au. Private to "friche": ir.
"fauche" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "friche" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fauche" and "friche" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fauche" or "friche"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fauche" and "friche" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fauche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "friche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #52,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fauche" and "friche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fauche vs Fuchs". 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 #52,387 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.