fastes vs foster, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“fastes” is a noun and “foster” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,387
“fastes” frequency rank: #17,141
“foster” frequency rank: 53528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fastes	foster
Definition	Tables ou livres du calendrier où étaient indiqués les jours de fêtes, d’assemblées publiques, de jeux.	Alimenter, nourrir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fastes and foster apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

fastes

6 ch

foster

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fastes is \fast\ while foster is \ˈfɒs.tə\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fastes is recorded at frequency rank #36,387, classified as anoun, pronounced \fast\. foster is at rank #17,141, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈfɒs.tə\.

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 53528, this pair ranks #140,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fastes vs foster

Shared letters: efst. Private to "fastes": a. Private to "foster": or.

"fastes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "foster" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

fastes ← afstes · fasets · fasstes · fastess · fastse · fasttes · fatses · ffastes
foster ← ffoster · fosetr · fosster · fosterr · fostre · fostter · fotser · fsoter

Frequency comparison

fastes#36,387

foster#17,141

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fastes" and "foster" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fastes" is a noun and "foster" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "fastes" or "foster"?

"foster" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,141 in our French list, against #36,387 for "fastes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fastes vs foster

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “fastes”; for a verb, it's “foster”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fastes” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable