Which to use
“fiche” and “firme” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,917
- “fiche” frequency rank
- #8,244
- “firme” frequency rank
- 10161
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fiche | firme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de ficher, d’enfoncer ; quantité dont on enfonce dans le sol un pieu de fondation. | Désignation légale d'une société, d'une entreprise, raison sociale, enseigne. |
Where the eye mixes fiche and firme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fiche and firme follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses fiche with firme
A purely visual mix-up. fiche (\fiʃ\) and firme (\fiʁm\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10161, 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\. firme is at rank #8,244, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fiʁm\.
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 10161, this pair ranks #414,009 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fiche vs firme
Shared letters: efi. Private to "fiche": ch. Private to "firme": mr.
"fiche" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "firme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fiche" for "firme" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fiche" or "firme"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fiche" and "firme" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fiche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "firme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,009 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fiche" and "firme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fare vs firme". 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 #414,009 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.