Which to use
“faces” and “foes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,536
- “faces” frequency rank
- #16,472
- “foes” frequency rank
- 19008
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faces | foes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of face | plural of foe |
Where the eye mixes faces and foes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: faces vs foes
A purely visual mix-up. faces (/ˈfeɪsɪz/) and foes (/fəʊz/) 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 19008, 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/. foes is at rank #16,472, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fəʊz/.
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 19008, this pair ranks #441,114 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faces vs foes
Shared letters: efs. Private to "faces": ac. Private to "foes": o.
"faces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "foes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "faces" for "foes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "faces" or "foes"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "faces" and "foes" 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 "foes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #441,114 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faces" and "foes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foes vs FOMO". 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 #441,114 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.