fare vs fière, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“fare” is a noun and “fière” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,039
“fare” frequency rank: #5,247
“fière” frequency rank: 50286
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fare	fière
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.	Féminin singulier de fier.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

fare

5 ch

fière

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fare is \faʁ\ while fière is \fjɛʁ\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50286, 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\. fière is at rank #5,247, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fjɛʁ\.

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 50286, this pair ranks #163,863 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fare vs fière

Shared letters: efr. Private to "fare": a. Private to "fière": iè.

"fare" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fière" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

fare ← afre · farre · ffare · frae

Frequency comparison

fare#45,039

fière#5,247

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fare" and "fière" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fare" is a noun and "fière" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "fare" or "fière"?

"fière" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,247 in our French list, against #45,039 for "fare". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fare vs fière

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “fare”; for an adjective, it's “fière”.
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