Which to use
“faut” is a verb and “feux” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #105
- “faut” frequency rank
- #3,756
- “feux” frequency rank
- 3861
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faut | feux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de falloir. | Feux tricolores. |
Where the eye mixes faut and feux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between faut and feux
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faut is \fo\ while feux is \fø\. 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 3861, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faut is recorded at frequency rank #105, classified as averb, pronounced \fo\. feux is at rank #3,756, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fø\.
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 3861, this pair ranks #433,026 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faut vs feux
Shared letters: fu. Private to "faut": at. Private to "feux": ex.
"faut" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "feux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "faut" for "feux" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "faut" or "feux" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "faut" and "feux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "faut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "feux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,026 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faut" and "feux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs feux". 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 #433,026 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.