famevsfazTell them apart

Quick tell: fame is a noun, faz is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fame” is a noun and “faz” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,471
“fame” frequency rank
#7,043
“faz” frequency rank
17514
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fame faz
Definition eine unangenehme körperliche Empfindung, die Menschen und Tiere dazu veranlasst, Nahrung aufzunehmen 3. Person Singular Präsens Indikativ des Verbs fazer

Where the eye mixes fame and faz

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fame
3 ch
faz

Look-alike desk: fame vs faz

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fame is [ˈfaːme] while faz is [fa(j)s]. 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 17514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fame is recorded at frequency rank #10,471, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaːme]. faz is at rank #7,043, tagged as averb, pronounced [fa(j)s].

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 17514, this pair ranks #1,926,717 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fame vs faz

Shared letters: af. Private to "fame": em. Private to "faz": z.

"fame" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "faz" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fameafme · faem · famme · ffame · fmae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fame" for "faz" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fame" is a noun and "faz" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fame" or "faz"?
"faz" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,043 in our German list, against #10,471 for "fame". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fame" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "faz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,926,717 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fame" and "faz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fame vs flame". 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 #1,926,717 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list