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PlainSpell

fare

UK /ˈfɛə/noun, verb

fare is spelled F-A-R-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 8.7 times per million words in written English, the 7,797th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “fair vs fare” about 9,900 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, fare means “Money paid for a transport ticket” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fare is fares.

How many letters and syllables are in fare?

Letters4: F-A-R-E
Syllables1
In writing8.7 times per million words; the 7,797th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is fare?

Fare appears 8.7 times per million words in written English, the 7,797th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce fare?

  • UK /ˈfɛə/
  • UK [ˈfɛə̯]
  • UK [ˈfɛː]

Fare has one syllable.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-fair.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-fair.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with fare

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

fair vs fare9,900 G

Sounds like: fair (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with fare?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as fare from its last stressed vowel (/ɛə/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: fear, faer.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of fare

  • fares plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • faring participle, present
  • fared participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does fare mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    obsoleteA going; journey; travel; voyage; course; passage.

    thoroughfare

  2. 2

    Money paid for a transport ticket.

    train fare

  3. 3

    A paying passenger, especially in a taxi.

  4. 4

    Food and drink.

  5. 5

    Supplies for consumption or pleasure.

    The television channel tended to broadcast unremarkable downmarket fare.

  6. 6

    UKslangA prostitute's client.

verb

  1. 1

    To experience luck, fortune or treatment (of a certain kind).

    She fared badly in the accident.

  2. 2

    To proceed or progress (in a certain way).

    We will continue to monitor how the hurricane fares against projected models.

  3. 3

    To happen or occur (in a certain way).

    We shall see how it fares with him.

  4. 4

    archaicTo go; to travel.

    Behold! A knight fares forth.

  5. 5

    archaicTo eat; to dine.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Fare in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanReise, Fahrt (voyage), Fahrpreis, Fahrgebühr, Fracht (money paid for a transport ticket), Fahrgast (paying passenger)
Frenchtarif, prix (money paid for a transport ticket), passager (paying passenger), se passer (to happen in a certain way)
Portuguesetarifa (money paid for a transport ticket), passageiro (paying passenger)
Spanishpasaje (money paid for a transport ticket), pasajero, carrera (paying passenger), irle, salir (to happen in a certain way)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does fare come from?

From Middle English fare, from a merger of Old English fær (“journey, road”) and faru (“journey, companions, baggage”), from Proto-Germanic *farą and *farō (“journey, fare”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“a going, passage”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after fare