Which to use
“fair” and “fairy” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,248
- “fair” frequency rank
- #26,385
- “fairy” frequency rank
- 38633
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fair | fairy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | justo | de fadas, feérico |
Where the eye mixes fair and fairy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fair runs 4 letters (CVVC) against fairy's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fair with fairy
A purely visual mix-up. fair (/fɛːɐ̯/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and fairy (/ˈfɛəɹɪ/) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “fair” sits inside “fairy”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38633, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fair is recorded at frequency rank #12,248, classified as anadj, pronounced /fɛːɐ̯/ ouvir^(fonte ?). fairy is at rank #26,385, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɛəɹɪ/.
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 38633, this pair ranks #27,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fair vs fairy
Shared letters: afir. Private to "fair": -. Private to "fairy": y.
"fair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fairy" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fair" and "fairy" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "fair" or "fairy"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fair" and "fairy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fairy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fair" and "fairy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faia vs fairy". 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 #27,767 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.