Sound-alike words
Faze vs. Phase
Faze means to disturb or unsettle someone, and it is usually used with not. Phase is a stage in a process, or as a verb, to do something in steps. The noise didn't faze her; the moon has phases.
| Word | Part of speech | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| faze | verb | to disturb, worry or unsettle someone, usually in negative sentences |
| phase | noun | a stage or step in a process, or a period of change |
| verb | to introduce or remove something in steps, usually with in or out |
Faze
verb: to disturb, worry or unsettle someone, usually in negative sentences
- The crowd's noise didn't faze the young pitcher.
- Nothing seems to faze my grandmother, not even a power outage.
Phase
noun: a stage or step in a process, or a period of change
- The first phase of the park project will finish in June.
- Every toddler seems to go through a picky-eating phase.
verb: to introduce or remove something in steps, usually with in or out
- The school will phase in new laptops over two years.
- The bank is phasing out paper statements.
How to remember the difference
Faze has a z, like dazed: if something fazes you, it leaves you a little dazed. Phase has the ph of photo: a snapshot of one stage.
Good to know
Faze comes from an old dialect word, feeze, and has nothing to do with phase. Writing it didn't phase me is a very common slip.
Spot the mistake
The tough questions didn't
phasefaze her at all.Correct: The tough questions didn't faze her at all.
Check yourself
Pick the word that fits each sentence.
1. Losing the first game did not the team; they won the next three.
Answer: faze. The meaning is to upset or unsettle, so faze with a z fits.
2. The new bridge will open in the second of construction.
Answer: phase. This is a stage in a process, so the noun phase fits.
Strunk wrote about this in 1918: his note on phase in The Elements of Style.