fai vs fama, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#40,830
“fai” frequency rank: #3,181
“fama” frequency rank: 44011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fai	fama
Definition	Tercera persona del singular (el, ela, vostede) del presente de indicativo de facer.	Opinión pública que la gente tiene de una persona.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fai and fama apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

fai

4 ch

fama

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fai is [ˈfa̠j] while fama is [ˈfama]. 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 44011, 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]. fama is at rank #3,181, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfama].

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 44011, this pair ranks #139,418 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fai vs fama

Shared letters: af. Private to "fai": i. Private to "fama": m.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

fama ← afma · faam · famma · ffama · fmaa

Frequency comparison

fai#40,830

fama#3,181

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fai" and "fama" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fai" is a verb and "fama" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "fai" or "fama"?

"fama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,181 in our Spanish list, against #40,830 for "fai". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering fai vs fama

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “fai”; for a noun, it's “fama”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fai” entry
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