faivsfajoTell them apart

Quick tell: fai is a verb, fajo is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fai” is a verb and “fajo” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,830
“fai” frequency rank
#43,590
“fajo” frequency rank
84420
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fai fajo
Definition Tercera persona del singular (el, ela, vostede) del presente de indicativo de facer. Haz o atado.

Where the eye mixes fai and fajo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fai runs 3 letters (CVV) against fajo's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
fai
4 ch
fajo

Why the eye confuses fai with fajo

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fai is [ˈfa̠j] while fajo is [ˈfaxo]. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fai is recorded at frequency rank #40,830, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfa̠j]. fajo is at rank #43,590, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfaxo].

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 84420, this pair ranks #7,073 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fai vs fajo

Shared letters: af. Private to "fai": i. Private to "fajo": jo.

"fai" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "fajo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fajo ← afjo · fajjo · faoj · ffajo · fjao

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fai" and "fajo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fai" is a verb and "fajo" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fai" or "fajo"?
"fai" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,830 in our Spanish list, against #43,590 for "fajo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fajo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #7,073 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fai" and "fajo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "facho vs fajo". 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 #7,073 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list