Which to use
“fair” is an adjective and “fairy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,310
- “fair” frequency rank
- #48,134
- “fairy” frequency rank
- 51444
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fair | fairy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | den Regeln, Richtlinien entsprechend | die Fee |
Where the eye mixes fair and fairy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fair runs 4 letters (CVVC) against fairy's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fair with fairy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fair is [fɛːɐ̯] while fairy is [ˈfɛəɹɪ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fair” sits inside “fairy”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51444, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fair is recorded at frequency rank #3,310, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɛːɐ̯]. fairy is at rank #48,134, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛəɹɪ].
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 51444, this pair ranks #1,135,305 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fair vs fairy
Shared letters: afir. Private to "fair": -. Private to "fairy": y.
"fair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fairy" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fair" and "fairy" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fair" or "fairy"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fair" and "fairy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fairy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,135,305 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fair" and "fairy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fairy vs firm". 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 #1,135,305 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.