Which to use
“fas” is a noun and “faux” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,890
- “fas” frequency rank
- #920
- “faux” frequency rank
- 48810
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fas | faux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Face, figure, visage. | Qui n’est pas conforme, ou qui ne se conforme pas à la réalité. Quand il s’agit des idées et des sentiments, et de leur expression, il signifie que ces idées, ces sentiments ou leur expression sont contraires à la réalité par erreur ou par imposture. |
Where the eye mixes fas and faux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fas runs 3 letters (CVC) against faux's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fas with faux
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fas is \ˈfasː\ while faux is \fo\. 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 48810, 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\. faux is at rank #920, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fo\.
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 48810, this pair ranks #175,864 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fas vs faux
Shared letters: af. Private to "fas": s. Private to "faux": ux.
"fas" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "faux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- faux ← afux · fauxx · faxu · ffaux · fuax
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fas" for "faux" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fas" or "faux"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #175,864 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fas" and "faux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fas vs Fee". 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 #175,864 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.