fairevsfixeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“faire” and “fixe” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,714
“faire” frequency rank
#25,128
“fixe” frequency rank
34842
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faire fixe
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fair Nominativ Singular Femininum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fix

Where the eye mixes faire and fixe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
faire
4 ch
fixe

Visual trap between faire and fixe

A purely visual mix-up. faire ([ˈfɛːʁə]) and fixe ([ˈfɪksə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34842, 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]. fixe is at rank #25,128, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɪksə].

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 34842, this pair ranks #1,654,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of faire vs fixe

Shared letters: efi. Private to "faire": ar. Private to "fixe": x.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • faireafire · faier · fairre · farie · ffaire · fiare
  • fixeffixe · fiex · fixxe · fxie · ifxe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faire" and "fixe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɛːʁə] versus [ˈfɪksə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "faire" or "fixe"?
"faire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,714 in our German list, against #25,128 for "fixe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "faire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fixe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,654,050 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faire" and "fixe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs fixe". 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 #1,654,050 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list