Which to use
“fahren” is a verb and “faires” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #541
- “fahren” frequency rank
- #29,118
- “faires” frequency rank
- 29659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fahren | faires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sich mit einem Fahrzeug zu Lande fortbewegen | Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fair |
Where the eye mixes fahren and faires
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fahren vs faires
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fahren is [ˈfaːʁən] while faires is [ˈfɛːʁəs]. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fahren is recorded at frequency rank #541, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfaːʁən]. faires is at rank #29,118, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɛːʁəs].
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 29659, this pair ranks #1,762,671 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fahren vs faires
Shared letters: aefr. Private to "fahren": hn. Private to "faires": is.
"fahren" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "faires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fahren" and "faires" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "fahren" or "faires" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fahren" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,762,671 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fahren" and "faires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faires vs fairy". 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 #1,762,671 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.