farevsfaroWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“fare” and “faro” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,039
“fare” frequency rank
#46,163
“faro” frequency rank
91202
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fare faro
Definition Pêche solennelle que les pêcheurs faisaient pour leur fête, vers le mois de mai, et qui fut interdite en 1670, parce qu’elle dépeuplait les rivières. Espèce de bière fortement alcoolisée qui se fabrique particulièrement à Bruxelles et dans les environs. On utilise de la bière lambic à laquelle on rajoute du sucre candi pour lancer une seconde fermentation.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fare and faro apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
fare
4 ch
faro

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fare (\faʁ\) and faro (\fa.ʁo\) 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 a single letter - e in “fare” becomes o in “faro”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91202, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fare is recorded at frequency rank #45,039, classified as anoun, pronounced \faʁ\. faro is at rank #46,163, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fa.ʁo\.

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 91202, this pair ranks #4,064 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fare vs faro

Shared letters: afr. Private to "fare": e. Private to "faro": o.

"fare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "faro" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fareafre · farre · ffare · frae
  • farofaor · farro · ffaro · frao

Frequency comparison

fare#45,039
faro#46,163

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fare" and "faro" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\faʁ\ versus \fa.ʁo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fare" or "faro"?
"fare" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,039 in our French list, against #46,163 for "faro". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fare vs faro

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fare” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list