fairway
/ˈfɛɹweɪ/
"fairway" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fairway” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #31,551 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #31,551
- frequency rank, English
- 7
- letters
- 10
- tracked misspellings
- 4
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The area between the tee and the green, where the grass is cut short.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fairway |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈfɛɹweɪ/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Frequency rank | #31,551 |
| Misspellings tracked | 10 |
| Confusable pairs | 4 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fairway” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fairway is 7 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɛɹweɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #31,551 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for fairway, with forms such as "afirway", "fairawy", and "fairrway". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 4 confusable-pair relationships, "fairy", "faraway", "fairly", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From fair + way. The correct English form is fairway, spelled F-A-I-R-W-A-Y.
Definition
- 1The area between the tee and the green, where the grass is cut short.
- 2Any tract of land free from obstacles.
- 3A channel either from offshore, in a river, or in a harbor that has enough depth to accommodate the draft of large vessels. (JP 4-01.6)
- 4A navigable channel in a harbour, offshore etc; the usual course taken by vessels in such places.
Etymology
From fair + way.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: afirway,fairawy,fairrway,fairwayy,fairwway,fairwya,faiwray,fariway,ffairway,fiarway
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fairway - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “fairway”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-A-I-R-W-A-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɛɹweɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fairy” - see the side-by-side comparison. fairway vs fairy
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.