Which to use
“faces” and “flares” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,536
- “faces” frequency rank
- #19,598
- “flares” frequency rank
- 22134
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faces | flares |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of face | plural of flare |
Where the eye mixes faces and flares
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses faces with flares
A purely visual mix-up. faces (/ˈfeɪsɪz/) and flares (/flɛə̯z/) 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 22134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faces is recorded at frequency rank #2,536, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfeɪsɪz/. flares is at rank #19,598, tagged as anoun, pronounced /flɛə̯z/.
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 22134, this pair ranks #418,821 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faces vs flares
Shared letters: aefs. Private to "faces": c. Private to "flares": lr.
"faces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "flares" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "faces" for "flares" ever safe?
Frequency check: "faces" vs "flares" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "faces" and "flares" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "faces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flares" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #418,821 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faces" and "flares" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flaked vs flares". 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 #418,821 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.