fastevsfesseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: faste is a adjective, fesse is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#23,550
“faste” frequency rank
#21,625
“fesse” frequency rank
45175
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faste fesse
Definition Propice, favorable, heureux, où tout réussit. Chacune des deux masses charnues situées à la partie postérieure du bassin, chez l’être humain et certains mammifères.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set faste and fesse apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
faste
5 ch
fesse

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faste is \fast\ while fesse is \fɛs\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45175, 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\. fesse is at rank #21,625, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɛs\.

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 45175, this pair ranks #204,795 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of faste vs fesse

Shared letters: efs. Private to "faste": at. Private to "fesse": -.

"faste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "fesse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fasteafste · faset · fasste · fastte · fatse · ffaste · fsate
  • fesseefsse · fese · ffesse · fsese

Frequency comparison

faste#23,550
fesse#21,625

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faste" and "fesse" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "faste" is an adjective and "fesse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "faste" or "fesse"?
"fesse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,625 in our French list, against #23,550 for "faste". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering faste vs fesse

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “faste”; for a noun, it's “fesse”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “faste” 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