English homophones
fairs/fares
"fares" (#12,774 written frequency) beats "fairs" (#17,364) in this 2-word /fɛəz/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /fɛəz/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "fares" leads at #12,774, with "fairs" trailing at #17,364.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "fa" then splits - "fairs" (5 letters) vs "fares" (5).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across fairs, fares: afrs. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
fairs
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVVCC
Inventory afirs · private i
fares
5 letters · 2 vowels · shape CVCVC
Inventory aefrs · private e
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "fairs" when you mean: plural of fair
- Write "fares" when you mean: plural of fare
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (fairs, fares). Here's where to go from here.
- "fares" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #12,774 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: feet · feat. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "fairs, fares" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.