Which to use
“fair” is an adjective and “fan” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,248
- “fair” frequency rank
- #10,358
- “fan” frequency rank
- 22606
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fair | fan |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | justo | fã |
Letter map: fair vs fan
Shared letters muted; letters that set fair and fan apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: fair vs fan
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fair is anadjective and fananoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22606, 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 ?). fan is at rank #10,358, tagged as anoun.
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 22606, this pair ranks #47,408 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fair vs fan
Shared letters: af. Private to "fair": ir. Private to "fan": n.
"fair" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fan" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fair ← afir · fairr · fari · ffair · fiar
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fair" for "fan" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fair" vs "fan" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "fair" vs "fan" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "fair" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fan" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,408 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fair" and "fan" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fan vs fern". 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 #47,408 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.