fairesvsfeinesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,118
“faires” frequency rank
#11,051
“feines” frequency rank
40169
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faires feines
Definition Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fair Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs fein

Where the eye mixes faires and feines

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
faires
6 ch
feines

Visual trap between faires and feines

A purely visual mix-up. faires ([ˈfɛːʁəs]) and feines ([ˈfaɪ̯nəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faires is recorded at frequency rank #29,118, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈfɛːʁəs]. feines is at rank #11,051, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈfaɪ̯nəs].

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 40169, this pair ranks #1,516,134 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of faires vs feines

Shared letters: efis. Private to "faires": ar. Private to "feines": n.

"faires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "feines" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fairesafires · faiers · fairess · fairres · fairse · faries · ffaires · fiares
  • feinesefines · feiens · feiness · feinnes · feinse · fenies · ffeines · fienes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "faires" and "feines" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈfɛːʁəs] versus [ˈfaɪ̯nəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "faires" or "feines" show up more?
"feines" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,051 in our German list, against #29,118 for "faires". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "faires" and "feines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "faires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "feines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,516,134 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faires" and "feines" 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 #1,516,134 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