Which to use
“franche” is an adjective and “franchi” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,060
- “franche” frequency rank
- #9,841
- “franchi” frequency rank
- 16901
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | franche | franchi |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de franc. | Participe passé masculin singulier de franchir. |
Where the eye mixes franche and franchi
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. franche and franchi follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses franche with franchi
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: franche is \fʁɑ̃ʃ\ while franchi is \fʁɑ̃.ʃi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “franche” becomes i in “franchi”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16901, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
franche is recorded at frequency rank #7,060, classified as anadj, pronounced \fʁɑ̃ʃ\. franchi is at rank #9,841, tagged as averb, pronounced \fʁɑ̃.ʃi\.
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 16901, this pair ranks #385,712 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of franche vs franchi
Shared letters: acfhnr. Private to "franche": e. Private to "franchi": i.
"franche" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV · "franchi" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "franche" and "franchi" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "franche" or "franchi" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "franche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "franchi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #385,712 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "franche" and "franchi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "franchi 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 #385,712 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.