fairevsfateWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,714
“faire” frequency rank
#35,761
“fate” frequency rank
45475
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faire fate
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fair die (eher leidlichen) Dinge oder Umstände, die jemandem widerfahren; Geschick, Schicksal

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
faire
4 ch
fate

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faire is [ˈfɛːʁə] while fate is [feɪt]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45475, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faire is recorded at frequency rank #9,714, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɛːʁə]. fate is at rank #35,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced [feɪt].

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 45475, this pair ranks #1,351,749 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of faire vs fate

Shared letters: aef. Private to "faire": ir. Private to "fate": t.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faireafire · faier · fairre · farie · ffaire · fiare
  • fateafte · fatte · ffate · ftae

Frequency comparison

faire#9,714
fate#35,761

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faire" and "fate" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "faire" is an adjective and "fate" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "faire" or "fate"?
"faire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,714 in our German list, against #35,761 for "fate". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering faire vs fate

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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