faivsfakeTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#40,830
“fai” frequency rank
#15,618
“fake” frequency rank
56448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fai fake
Definition Tercera persona del singular (el, ela, vostede) del presente de indicativo de facer. Algo que no es genuino, o es presentado fraudulentamente; falsificación; farsante.

Where the eye mixes fai and fake

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
fai
4 ch
fake

Look-alike desk: fai vs fake

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fai is [ˈfa̠j] while fake is /feɪk/. 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 56448, 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]. fake is at rank #15,618, tagged as anoun, pronounced /feɪk/.

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 56448, this pair ranks #74,566 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fai vs fake

Shared letters: af. Private to "fai": i. Private to "fake": ek.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fakeafke · faek · fakke · ffake · fkae

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fai" and "fake" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fai" is a verb and "fake" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "fai" vs "fake" - which ranks higher?
"fake" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,618 in our Spanish list, against #40,830 for "fai". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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 "fake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #74,566 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fai" and "fake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fai vs falo". 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 #74,566 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