Which to use
“fair” and “faires” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,853
- “fair” frequency rank
- #46,749
- “faires” frequency rank
- 55602
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fair | faires |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Correct | Accusatif neutre singulier de la déclinaison forte de fair. |
Where the eye mixes fair and faires
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fair runs 4 letters (CVVC) against faires's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fair with faires
A purely visual mix-up. fair (\fɛːɐ̯\) and faires (\ˈfɛːʁəs\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fair” sits inside “faires”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fair is recorded at frequency rank #8,853, classified as anadj, pronounced \fɛːɐ̯\. faires is at rank #46,749, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈfɛːʁəs\.
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 55602, this pair ranks #126,432 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fair vs faires
Shared letters: afir. Private to "fair": -. Private to "faires": es.
"fair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "faires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fair" and "faires" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fair" vs "faires" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "faires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #126,432 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fair" and "faires" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faires vs fakes". 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 #126,432 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.