Fans vs fas, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#1,128
“Fans” frequency rank: #38,095
“fas” frequency rank: 39223
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	Fans	fas
Definition	Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Fan	2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fasen

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Fans and fas apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

Fans

3 ch

fas

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fans is [fɛns] 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 39223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fans is recorded at frequency rank #1,128, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɛns]. 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 39223, this pair ranks #1,542,674 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Fans vs fas

Shared letters: afs. Private to "Fans": n. Private to "fas": -.

"Fans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "fas" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

Fans ← afns · fanns · fanss · fasn · ffans · fnas

Frequency comparison

Fans#1,128

fas#38,095

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fans" and "fas" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fans" is a noun and "fas" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "Fans" or "fas"?

"Fans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,128 in our German list, against #38,095 for "fas". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Fans vs fas

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Fans”; for a verb, it's “fas”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Fans” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable