Which to use
“faux” is an adjective and “feux” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #920
- “faux” frequency rank
- #3,756
- “feux” frequency rank
- 4676
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faux | feux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Feux tricolores. |
Where the eye mixes faux and feux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. faux and feux follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between faux and feux
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faux is \fo\ while feux is \fø\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “faux” becomes e in “feux”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faux is recorded at frequency rank #920, classified as anadj, 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 4676, this pair ranks #430,988 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faux vs feux
Shared letters: fux. Private to "faux": a. Private to "feux": e.
"faux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "feux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "faux" and "feux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "faux" or "feux"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "faux" 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 #430,988 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faux" 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 #430,988 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.