Which to use
“faces” is a noun and “faires” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,157
- “faces” frequency rank
- #46,749
- “faires” frequency rank
- 56906
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faces | faires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de face. | Accusatif neutre singulier de la déclinaison forte de fair. |
Where the eye mixes faces and faires
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. faces runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against faires's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: faces vs faires
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faces is \fas\ while faires is \ˈfɛːʁəs\. 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 56906, 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\. faires is at rank #46,749, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈfɛːʁəs\.
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 56906, this pair ranks #118,217 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of faces vs faires
Shared letters: aefs. Private to "faces": c. Private to "faires": ir.
"faces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "faires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "faces" for "faires" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "faces" or "faires" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "faces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #118,217 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faces" and "faires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faires vs fakes". 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 #118,217 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.