Which to use
“français” and “franches” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #138
- “français” frequency rank
- #22,866
- “franches” frequency rank
- 23004
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | français | franches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Relatif à la France, ou à ses habitants, ou à sa culture. | Féminin pluriel de franc (dans le sens de « libre, vrai, sincère, exempt de taxes, etc. »). |
Where the eye mixes français and franches
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. français (CCVCCVVC) and franches (CCVCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: français vs franches
A purely visual mix-up. français (\fʁɑ̃.sɛ\) and franches (\fʁɑ̃ʃ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23004, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
français is recorded at frequency rank #138, classified as anadj, pronounced \fʁɑ̃.sɛ\. franches is at rank #22,866, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fʁɑ̃ʃ\.
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 23004, this pair ranks #354,901 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of français vs franches
Shared letters: afnrs. Private to "français": iç. Private to "franches": ceh.
"français" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVVC · "franches" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- franches ← farnches · ffranches · fracnhes · francches · francehs · franchess · franchhes · franchse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "français" for "franches" ever safe?
Which is more common, "français" or "franches"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "français" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "franches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #354,901 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "français" and "franches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "franches vs francos". 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 #354,901 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.