Which to use
“faste” is an adjective and “faute” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,550
- “faste” frequency rank
- #874
- “faute” frequency rank
- 24424
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faste | faute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Propice, favorable, heureux, où tout réussit. | Manquement plus ou moins grave à un devoir, à une loi, à une règle, à un usage, à une convenance. |
Where the eye mixes faste and faute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between faste and faute
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faste is \fast\ while faute is \fot\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “faste” becomes u in “faute”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24424, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faste is recorded at frequency rank #23,550, classified as anadj, pronounced \fast\. faute is at rank #874, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fot\.
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 24424, this pair ranks #346,720 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of faste vs faute
Shared letters: aeft. Private to "faste": s. Private to "faute": u.
"faste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "faute" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "faste" and "faute" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "faste" or "faute"?
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 "faste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #346,720 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faste" and "faute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fange vs faste". 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 #346,720 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.