fasvsfunWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fas is a noun, fun is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fas” is a noun and “fun” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,890
“fas” frequency rank
#5,870
“fun” frequency rank
53760
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fas fun
Definition Face, figure, visage. Amusant.

Where the eye mixes fas and fun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
fas
3 ch
fun

Why the eye confuses fas with fun

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fas is \ˈfasː\ while fun is \fœn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53760, 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\. fun is at rank #5,870, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fœn\.

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 53760, this pair ranks #138,548 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fas vs fun

Shared letters: f. Private to "fas": as. Private to "fun": nu.

"fas" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fun" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fas" for "fun" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fas" is a noun and "fun" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "fas" or "fun" show up more?
"fun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,870 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.

What to do next

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 "fun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #138,548 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fas" and "fun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fas vs Fee". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #138,548 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list