Which to use
“fault” is a verb and “fruit” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,753
- “fault” frequency rank
- #3,262
- “fruit” frequency rank
- 50015
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fault | fruit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’impératif présent de faulen. | Organe des angiospermes, résultant du développement de l’ovaire après la fécondation, contenant une ou plusieurs graines, et jouant un rôle dans leur dissémination. |
Where the eye mixes fault and fruit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between fault and fruit
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fault is \faʊ̯lt\ while fruit is \fʁɥi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50015, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fault is recorded at frequency rank #46,753, classified as averb, pronounced \faʊ̯lt\. fruit is at rank #3,262, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁɥi\.
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 50015, this pair ranks #165,956 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fault vs fruit
Shared letters: ftu. Private to "fault": al. Private to "fruit": ir.
"fault" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "fruit" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fault" for "fruit" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fault" or "fruit" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fault" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fruit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #165,956 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fault" and "fruit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fau vs fault". 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 #165,956 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.