Which to use
“fails” is a verb and “fairly” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,600
- “fails” frequency rank
- #2,994
- “fairly” frequency rank
- 7594
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fails | fairly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of fail | In a fair manner; fair; not biased or skewed or favouring a certain party |
Where the eye mixes fails and fairly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fails runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against fairly's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fails with fairly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fails is /feɪlz/ while fairly is /ˈfɛə(ɹ).li/. 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 (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fails is recorded at frequency rank #4,600, classified as averb, pronounced /feɪlz/. fairly is at rank #2,994, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ˈfɛə(ɹ).li/.
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 7594, this pair ranks #506,455 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fails vs fairly
Shared letters: afil. Private to "fails": s. Private to "fairly": ry.
"fails" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "fairly" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fails" and "fairly" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fails" or "fairly"?
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 "fails" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fairly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #506,455 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fails" and "fairly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fails vs flail". 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 #506,455 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.