fastvsFrustWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fast is a adverb, Frust is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fast” is an adverb and “Frust” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#243
“fast” frequency rank
#9,906
“Frust” frequency rank
10149
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fast Frust
Definition nicht ganz Gefühl der Enttäuschung, das sich bei wiederkehrendem Misserfolg einstellt

Where the eye mixes fast and Frust

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fast
5 ch
Frust

Look-alike desk: fast vs Frust

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fast is [fast] while Frust is [fʁʊst]. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fast is recorded at frequency rank #243, classified as anadv, pronounced [fast]. Frust is at rank #9,906, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fʁʊst].

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 10149, this pair ranks #1,976,557 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fast vs Frust

Shared letters: fst. Private to "fast": a. Private to "Frust": ru.

"fast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Frust" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fastafst · fastt · fats · ffast · fsat
  • Frustffrust · frrust · frsut · frusst · frustt · fruts · furst · rfust

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fast" and "Frust" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fast" is an adverb and "Frust" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fast" vs "Frust" - which ranks higher?
"fast" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #243 in our German list, against #9,906 for "Frust". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fast" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Frust" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,976,557 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fast" and "Frust" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs Frust". 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 #1,976,557 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