Which to use
“faut” is a verb and “faux” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #105
- “faut” frequency rank
- #920
- “faux” frequency rank
- 1025
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faut | faux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de falloir. | Qui n’est pas conforme, ou qui ne se conforme pas à la réalité. Quand il s’agit des idées et des sentiments, et de leur expression, il signifie que ces idées, ces sentiments ou leur expression sont contraires à la réalité par erreur ou par imposture. |
Same sound, different letters: faut vs faux
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - faut and faux
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: faut and faux carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fo\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - t in “faut” becomes x in “faux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faut is recorded at frequency rank #105, classified as averb, pronounced \fo\. faux is at rank #920, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fo\.
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 1025, this pair ranks #438,748 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faut vs faux
Shared letters: afu. Private to "faut": t. Private to "faux": x.
"faut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "faux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "faut" and "faux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "faut" or "faux"?
What to do next
"faut" and "faux" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "faut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,748 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faut" and "faux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fage vs faux". 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 #438,748 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.