facesvsfaçonsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“faces” and “façons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,157
“faces” frequency rank
#4,422
“façons” frequency rank
14579
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faces façons
Definition Pluriel de face. Pluriel de façon.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set faces and façons apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
faces
6 ch
façons

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. faces (\fas\) and façons (\fa.sɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14579, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faces is recorded at frequency rank #10,157, classified as anoun, pronounced \fas\. façons is at rank #4,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fa.sɔ̃\.

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 14579, this pair ranks #396,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of faces vs façons

Shared letters: afs. Private to "faces": ce. Private to "façons": noç.

"faces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "façons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • facesafces · facces · facess · facse · faecs · fcaes · ffaces

Frequency comparison

faces#10,157
façons#4,422

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faces" and "façons" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fas\ versus \fa.sɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "faces" or "façons"?
"façons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,422 in our French list, against #10,157 for "faces". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering faces vs façons

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “faces” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list