Which to use
“faerie” and “fairies” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,691
- “faerie” frequency rank
- #19,332
- “fairies” frequency rank
- 60023
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faerie | fairies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Archaic spelling of fairy. | plural of fairy |
Letter map: faerie vs fairies
Shared letters muted; letters that set faerie and fairies apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. faerie runs 6 letters (CVVCVV) against fairies's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Spelling & dictionary notes on faerie vs fairies
faerie and fairies are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faerie is recorded at frequency rank #40,691, classified as anoun. fairies is at rank #19,332, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɛəɹiz/.
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 60023, this pair ranks #102,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of faerie vs fairies
Shared letters: aefir. Private to "faerie": -. Private to "fairies": s.
"faerie" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "fairies" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "faerie" for "fairies" ever safe?
Frequency check: "faerie" vs "fairies" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've compared "faerie" and "fairies". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "faerie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fairies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #102,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faerie" and "fairies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "facie vs faerie". 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 #102,644 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.