Which to use
“fails” is a verb and “false” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,600
- “fails” frequency rank
- #2,345
- “false” frequency rank
- 6945
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fails | false |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of fail | Untrue, not factual, factually incorrect. |
Where the eye mixes fails and false
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fails is /feɪlz/ while false is /fɔːls/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6945, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fails is recorded at frequency rank #4,600, classified as averb, pronounced /feɪlz/. false is at rank #2,345, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fɔːls/.
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 6945, this pair ranks #509,294 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fails vs false
Shared letters: afls. Private to "fails": i. Private to "false": e.
"fails" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "false" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV