fasvsfateTell them apart

Quick tell: fas is a noun, fate is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fas” is a noun and “fate” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#27,227
“fas” frequency rank
#42,443
“fate” frequency rank
69670
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fas fate
Definition Cara, faz, haz, jeta, rostro. Vanidosa, forma femenina singular del adjetivo fat.

Where the eye mixes fas and fate

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fas runs 3 letters (CVC) against fate's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
fas
4 ch
fate

Why the eye confuses fas with fate

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fas is /ˈfasː/ while fate is [fat]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69670, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fas is recorded at frequency rank #27,227, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfasː/. fate is at rank #42,443, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fat].

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 69670, this pair ranks #31,473 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fas vs fate

Shared letters: af. Private to "fas": s. Private to "fate": et.

"fas" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fate" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fate ← afte · faet · fatte · ffate · ftae

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fas" for "fate" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fas" is a noun and "fate" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fas" or "fate"?
"fas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,227 in our Spanish list, against #42,443 for "fate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,473 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fas" and "fate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fate vs fuste". 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 #31,473 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list