facilitiesvsfacultiesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“facilities” and “faculties” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,202
“facilities” frequency rank
#18,075
“faculties” frequency rank
20277
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature facilities faculties
Definition plural of facility plural of faculty

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set facilities and faculties apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
facilities
9 ch
faculties

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. facilities (/fəˈsɪlɪtiz/) and faculties (/ˈfæ.kəl.tiz/) 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 20277, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

facilities is recorded at frequency rank #2,202, classified as anoun, pronounced /fəˈsɪlɪtiz/. faculties is at rank #18,075, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfæ.kəl.tiz/.

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 20277, this pair ranks #432,239 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of facilities vs faculties

Shared letters: acefilst. Private to "facilities": -. Private to "faculties": u.

"facilities" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC  ·  "faculties" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • facilitiesafcilities · faccilities · faciilties · faciliites · faciliteis · facilitiess · facilitise · facilitties
  • facultiesafculties · facculties · facluties · faculites · facullties · faculteis · facultiess · facultise

Frequency comparison

facilities#2,202
faculties#18,075

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "facilities" and "faculties" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/fəˈsɪlɪtiz/ versus /ˈfæ.kəl.tiz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "facilities" or "faculties"?
"facilities" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,202 in our English list, against #18,075 for "faculties". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering facilities vs faculties

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “facilities” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list