fasvsfateWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,890
“fas” frequency rank
#39,294
“fate” frequency rank
87184
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fas fate
Definition Face, figure, visage. Celle qui est contente d’elle-même et qui le laisse voir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fas and fate apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
fas
4 ch
fate

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fas (\ˈfasː\) and fate (\fat\) 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 87184, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fas is recorded at frequency rank #47,890, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈfasː\. fate is at rank #39,294, tagged as anoun, 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 87184, this pair ranks #8,631 of 440,172 scored French 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

  • fateafte · fatte · ffate · ftae

Frequency comparison

fas#47,890
fate#39,294

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fas" and "fate" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈfasː\ versus \fat\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fas" or "fate"?
"fate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,294 in our French list, against #47,890 for "fas". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fas vs fate

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 “fas” 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