Which to use
“fai” is a verb and “faith” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,967
- “fai” frequency rank
- #23,210
- “faith” frequency rank
- 35177
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fai | faith |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de fer. | Foi. |
Where the eye mixes fai and faith
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fai runs 3 letters (CVV) against faith's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fai and faith
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fai is [ˈfa.i] while faith is [feɪθ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fai” sits inside “faith”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35177, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fai is recorded at frequency rank #11,967, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfa.i]. faith is at rank #23,210, tagged as anoun, pronounced [feɪθ].
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 35177, this pair ranks #278,621 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fai vs faith
Shared letters: afi. Private to "fai": -. Private to "faith": ht.
"fai" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "faith" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- faith ← afith · faiht · faithh · faitth · fatih · ffaith · fiath
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fai" for "faith" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fai" or "faith" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fai" and "faith" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faith" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #278,621 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fai" and "faith" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faith vs Fanta". 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 #278,621 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.