falvsfastWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fal is a verb, fast is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fal” is a verb and “fast” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,151
“fal” frequency rank
#767
“fast” frequency rank
43918
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fal fast
Definition Obsolete spelling of fall. Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable.

Letter map: fal vs fast

Shared letters muted; letters that set fal and fast apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
fal
4 ch
fast

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fal is averb and fastanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43918, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fal is recorded at frequency rank #43,151, classified as averb. fast is at rank #767, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fɑːst/.

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 43918, this pair ranks #235,411 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fal vs fast

Shared letters: af. Private to "fal": l. Private to "fast": st.

"fal" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fastafst · fasst · fastt · ffast · fsat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fal" and "fast" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fal" is a verb and "fast" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fal" or "fast"?
"fast" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #767 in our English list, against #43,151 for "fal". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list