Which to use
“faces” is a noun and “fais” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,157
- “faces” frequency rank
- #190
- “fais” frequency rank
- 10347
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faces | fais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de face. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de faire. |
Where the eye mixes faces and fais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: faces vs fais
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faces is \fas\ while fais is \fɛ\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10347, 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\. fais is at rank #190, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɛ\.
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 10347, this pair ranks #413,325 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faces vs fais
Shared letters: afs. Private to "faces": ce. Private to "fais": i.
"faces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "fais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "faces" and "fais" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "faces" or "fais"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "faces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #413,325 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faces" and "fais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faces 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 #413,325 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.