Which to use
“fare” is a noun and “fast” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,039
- “fare” frequency rank
- #8,544
- “fast” frequency rank
- 53583
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fare | fast |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Presque, quasiment. |
Where the eye mixes fare and fast
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fare vs fast
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fare is \faʁ\ while fast is \fast\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53583, 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\. fast is at rank #8,544, tagged as anadv, pronounced \fast\.
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 53583, this pair ranks #139,719 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fare vs fast
Shared letters: af. Private to "fare": er. Private to "fast": st.
"fare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fare" for "fast" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fare" or "fast"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fare" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fast" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #139,719 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fare" and "fast" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fare vs Fee". 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 #139,719 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.