fichevsfichentWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fiche is a noun, fichent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fiche” is a noun and “fichent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,917
“fiche” frequency rank
#31,493
“fichent” frequency rank
33410
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fiche fichent
Definition Action de ficher, d’enfoncer ; quantité dont on enfonce dans le sol un pieu de fondation. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de ficher.

Same sound, different letters: fiche vs fichent

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. fiche runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fichent's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
fiche
7 ch
fichent

Ear matches; page differs - fiche and fichent

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fiche and fichent carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fiʃ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fiche” sits inside “fichent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33410, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fiche is recorded at frequency rank #1,917, classified as anoun, pronounced \fiʃ\. fichent is at rank #31,493, tagged as averb, pronounced \fiʃ\.

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 33410, this pair ranks #290,842 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fiche vs fichent

Shared letters: cefhi. Private to "fiche": -. Private to "fichent": nt.

"fiche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "fichent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fiche ← fcihe · ffiche · ficche · ficeh · fichhe · fihce · ifche
  • fichent ← fcihent · ffichent · ficchent · ficehnt · fichennt · fichentt · fichetn · fichhent

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fiche" and "fichent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fiche" is a noun and "fichent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fiche" vs "fichent" - which ranks higher?
"fiche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,917 in our French list, against #31,493 for "fichent". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "fiche" / "fichent". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fichent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #290,842 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fiche" and "fichent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fichait vs fichent". 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 #290,842 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list