face to face
"face-to-face" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“face to face” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as an adverb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 12
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - In person; directly; in the physical presence of somebody.
Corpus desk
Index EN-face-to-face · face to face · English
face to face · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 12 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "F" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | face to face |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| Letters | 12 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “face to face” in English
Rare enough to double-check
face to face is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anadverb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for face to face, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which tends to mean the word is visually distinctive enough to stand on its own.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is face to face, spelled F-A-C-E- -T-O- -F-A-C-E.
Definition
- 1In person; directly; in the physical presence of somebody.
- 2Closely encountering (a thing or situation).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how face to face appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
He sounds intimidating over the phone, but if you meet him face to face you will find he is a friendly enough fellow.
Finally, there I was, face to face with death.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.