pharesvsphaseConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#9,363
“phares” frequency rank
#1,783
“phase” frequency rank
11146
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature phares phase
Definition Pluriel de phare. États successifs par lesquels passent certains phénomènes de la vie, de l’histoire.

Where the eye mixes phares and phase

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
phares
5 ch
phase

Look-alike desk: phares vs phase

A purely visual mix-up. phares (\faʁ\) and phase (\fɑz\) 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 11146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

phares is recorded at frequency rank #9,363, classified as anoun, pronounced \faʁ\. phase is at rank #1,783, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɑz\.

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 11146, this pair ranks #410,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of phares vs phase

Shared letters: aehps. Private to "phares": r. Private to "phase": -.

"phares" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "phase" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • phareshpares · pahres · phaers · pharess · pharres · phhares · pphares
  • phasehpase · pahse · phaes · phasse · phhase · phsae · pphase

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "phares" and "phase" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\faʁ\ versus \fɑz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "phares" or "phase"?
"phase" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,783 in our French list, against #9,363 for "phares". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "phares" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "phase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #410,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "phares" and "phase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fare vs phares". 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 #410,285 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