Which to use
“faced” and “failed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,057
- “faced” frequency rank
- #1,596
- “failed” frequency rank
- 4653
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faced | failed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of face | simple past and past participle of fail |
Where the eye mixes faced and failed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. faced (/feɪst/) and failed (/feɪld/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4653, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faced is recorded at frequency rank #3,057, classified as averb, pronounced /feɪst/. failed is at rank #1,596, tagged as averb, pronounced /feɪld/.
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 4653, this pair ranks #518,171 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faced vs failed
Shared letters: adef. Private to "faced": c. Private to "failed": il.
"faced" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "failed" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC