Which to use
“fails” is a verb and “fas” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,600
- “fails” frequency rank
- #27,454
- “fas” frequency rank
- 32054
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fails | fas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of fail | A border or fringe. |
Letter map: fails vs fas
Shared letters muted; letters that set fails and fas apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. fails runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against fas's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for fails / fas
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fails is averb and fasanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32054, 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/. fas is at rank #27,454, tagged as anoun.
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 32054, this pair ranks #341,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fails vs fas
Shared letters: afs. Private to "fails": il. Private to "fas": -.
"fails" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "fas" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fails ← afils · faills · failss · faisl · falis · ffails · fials
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fails" for "fas" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "fails" or "fas" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "fails" vs "fas" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "fails" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #341,011 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fails" and "fas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fas vs foh". 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 #341,011 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.