Which to use
“fair” and “fast” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,104
- “fair” frequency rank
- #767
- “fast” frequency rank
- 1871
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fair | fast |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Beautiful, of a pleasing appearance, with a pure and fresh quality. | Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable. |
Where the eye mixes fair and fast
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. fair (/fɛə/) and fast (/fɑːst/) 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 1871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fair is recorded at frequency rank #1,104, classified as anadj, pronounced /fɛə/. fast is at rank #767, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fɑːst/.
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 1871, this pair ranks #526,423 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fair vs fast
Shared letters: af. Private to "fair": ir. Private to "fast": st.
"fair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC