facevsfaireWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: face is a noun, faire is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,395
“face” frequency rank
#34,275
“faire” frequency rank
35670
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature face faire
Definition parte do corpo humano onde se encontram os olhos, nariz e boca fazer

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
face
5 ch
faire

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: face is anoun and faireaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35670, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

face is recorded at frequency rank #1,395, classified as anoun. faire is at rank #34,275, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɛʁ\.

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 35670, this pair ranks #31,347 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of face vs faire

Shared letters: aef. Private to "face": c. Private to "faire": ir.

"face" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "faire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faceafce · facce · faec · fcae · fface
  • faireafire · faier · fairre · farie · ffaire · fiare

Frequency comparison

face#1,395
faire#34,275

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "face" and "faire" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "face" is a noun and "faire" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "face" or "faire"?
"face" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,395 in our Portuguese list, against #34,275 for "faire". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering face vs faire

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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