facing vs variant

facing

adj
  • Positioned so as to face (in a particular direction) 

  • Diverging in the direction of travel. 

noun
  • Fabric applied to a garment edge on the underside. 

  • A powdered substance, such as charcoal or bituminous coal, applied to the face of a mould, or mixed with the sand that forms it, to give a fine smooth surface to the casting. 

  • The movement of soldiers by turning on their heels to the right, left, or about. 

  • The most external portion of exterior siding. 

  • The collar and cuffs of a military coat, commonly of a different colour from the rest of the coat. 

variant

adj
  • Showing variety, diverse. 

  • Showing deviation or disagreement. 

  • Covariant and/or contravariant. 

noun
  • Something that is slightly different from a type or norm. 

  • A different sequence of a gene (locus). 

  • A variable that can hold any of various unrelated data types. 

  • One of a set of words or other linguistic forms that conveys the same meaning or serves the same function. 

How often have the words facing and variant occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )