fasvsfearWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,890
“fas” frequency rank
#33,681
“fear” frequency rank
81571
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fas fear
Definition Face, figure, visage. Peur.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch
fas
4 ch
fear

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fas (\ˈfasː\) and fear (\ˈfɪə(ɹ)\) 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 81571, 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\. fear is at rank #33,681, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈfɪə(ɹ)\.

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 81571, this pair ranks #18,478 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fas vs fear

Shared letters: af. Private to "fas": s. Private to "fear": er.

"fas" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fearefar · faer · fearr · ffear

Frequency comparison

fas#47,890
fear#33,681

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fas" and "fear" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈfasː\ versus \ˈfɪə(ɹ)\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fas" or "fear"?
"fear" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,681 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 fear

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