Which to use
“face” is a noun and “fas” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,650
- “face” frequency rank
- #38,095
- “fas” frequency rank
- 48745
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | face | fas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | der vordere Teil des Kopfes; Antlitz, Angesicht, Gesicht, Visage | 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fasen |
Where the eye mixes face and fas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses face with fas
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: face is [feɪs] while fas is [faːs]. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48745, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
face is recorded at frequency rank #10,650, classified as anoun, pronounced [feɪs]. fas is at rank #38,095, tagged as averb, pronounced [faːs].
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 48745, this pair ranks #1,237,249 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of face vs fas
Shared letters: af. Private to "face": ce. Private to "fas": s.
"face" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fas" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- face ← afce · facce · faec · fcae · fface
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "face" and "fas" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "face" or "fas" show up more?
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 "face" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,237,249 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "face" and "fas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fas vs fist". 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 #1,237,249 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.