fasvsfeyTell them apart

Quick tell: fas is a verb, fey is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#38,095
“fas” frequency rank
#43,868
“fey” frequency rank
81963
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fas fey
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs fasen (aus dem schottischen) todgeweiht

Letter map: fas vs fey

Shared letters muted; letters that set fas and fey apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. fas (CVC) and fey (CVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
fas
3 ch
fey

Part-of-speech tell for fas / fey

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fas is averb and feyanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81963, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fas is recorded at frequency rank #38,095, classified as averb, pronounced [faːs]. fey is at rank #43,868, tagged as anadj, pronounced […].

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 81963, this pair ranks #165,872 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fas vs fey

Shared letters: f. Private to "fas": as. Private to "fey": ey.

"fas" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fas" for "fey" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fas" is a verb and "fey" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fas" or "fey"?
"fas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,095 in our German list, against #43,868 for "fey". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "fas" and "fey".

  • Full dictionary entry for "fas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #165,872 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fas" and "fey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fey vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #165,872 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