Fair or fare?
fair is an adjective meaning “Unblemished (figuratively or literally); clean and pure; innocent”; fare is a noun meaning “Money paid for a transport ticket”. Use fair as an adjective and fare as a noun (fair is also a noun: “Something which is fair (in various senses of the adjective)”). They sound the same (/ˈfɛə/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) fair is about 11 times as common as fare.
What is the difference between fair and fare?
| fair | fare | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun, verb, adverb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | Unblemished (figuratively or literally); clean and pure; innocent Light in color, pale, particularly with regard to skin tone but also referring to blond and red hair Something which is fair (in various senses of the adjective) | Money paid for a transport ticket A paying passenger, especially in a taxi To experience luck, fortune or treatment (of a certain kind) |
| Example | Monday's child is fair of face | thoroughfare |
| Forms | fairer, fairest | fares |
| Pronunciation | /ˈfɛə/ [ˈfɛə̯] [ˈfɛː] | /ˈfɛə/ [ˈfɛə̯] [ˈfɛː] |
| In writing | 98 times per million words | 8.7 times per million words |
Sources: fair and fare in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of fair and fare
fair
- 1
Unblemished (figuratively or literally); clean and pure; innocent
one's fair name
- 2
Something which is fair (in various senses of the adjective)
When will we learn to distinguish between the fair and the foul?
- 3
To smoothen or even a surface (especially a connection or junction on a surface)
- 4
Clearly, openly, frankly, civilly, honestly, favorably, auspiciously, agreeably
- 5
A community gathering to celebrate and exhibit local achievements
- 6
Acronym of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability, a set of principles for data management
- 7
Light in color, pale, particularly with regard to skin tone but also referring to blond and red hair
She had fair hair and blue eyes
- 8
A fair woman; a sweetheart
fare
- 1
Money paid for a transport ticket
train fare
- 2
To experience luck, fortune or treatment (of a certain kind)
She fared badly in the accident
- 3
A paying passenger, especially in a taxi
- 4
To proceed or progress (in a certain way)
We will continue to monitor how the hurricane fares against projected models
- 5
Food and drink
- 6
To happen or occur (in a certain way)
We shall see how it fares with him
- 7
Supplies for consumption or pleasure
The television channel tended to broadcast unremarkable downmarket fare
- 8
UKslangA prostitute's client
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, fair or fare?
fair appears 98 times per million words; fare 8.7 times per million words.
fair 98 times per million wordsfare 8.7 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search fair vs fare?
“fair vs fare” is searched about 9,900 times a month on Google and 240 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“fare vs fair”, “fair or fare”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.