Which to use
“fausse” is an adjective and “fosses” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,924
- “fausse” frequency rank
- #16,882
- “fosses” frequency rank
- 19806
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fausse | fosses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de faux. | Pluriel de fosse. |
Same sound, different letters: fausse vs fosses
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. fausse (CVVCCV) and fosses (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Homophone desk: fausse vs fosses
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fausse and fosses carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fos\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19806, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fausse is recorded at frequency rank #2,924, classified as anadj, pronounced \fos\. fosses is at rank #16,882, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fos\.
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 19806, this pair ranks #371,458 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fausse vs fosses
Shared letters: efs. Private to "fausse": au. Private to "fosses": o.
"fausse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "fosses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fausse" and "fosses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fausse" or "fosses" show up more?
After this comparison
"fausse" and "fosses" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "fausse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fosses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #371,458 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fausse" and "fosses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs fosses". 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 #371,458 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.