Which to use
“fichu” is an adjective and “foch” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,014
- “fichu” frequency rank
- #28,562
- “foch” frequency rank
- 49576
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fichu | foch |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fait, arrangé. | Forme mutée de moch par lénition. |
Where the eye mixes fichu and foch
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fichu runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against foch's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fichu with foch
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fichu is \fi.ʃy\ while foch is \voːχ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49576, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fichu is recorded at frequency rank #21,014, classified as anadj, pronounced \fi.ʃy\. foch is at rank #28,562, tagged as anoun, pronounced \voːχ\.
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 49576, this pair ranks #169,513 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fichu vs foch
Shared letters: cfh. Private to "fichu": iu. Private to "foch": o.
"fichu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "foch" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fichu" for "foch" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fichu" or "foch" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fichu" and "foch" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fichu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foch" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #169,513 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fichu" and "foch" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foch vs fork". 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 #169,513 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.