Fare vs Fair | Difference, Meaning & Examples
A fair is an event (e.g., a “trade fair,” a “county fair”), while a fare is the amount of money you pay to ride on public transportation (e.g., a “bus fare”).
- Fair and fare are pronounced in the same way (i.e., they are homophones).
- Fair is also an adjective meaning “reasonable and correct” (e.g., a “fair decision”), “light colored” when describing skin or hair (e.g., a “fair complexion”), and “good” when describing weather (e.g., “fair conditions with only light winds”).
- Fare is also a verb used in combination with “well/better” and “badly/worse” to refer to how successfully something or somebody is performing, coping, or progressing (e.g., “The economy is faring better than expected”), and a noun meaning “food” (e.g., “traditional Irish fare”).
| Fare in a sentence | Fair in a sentence |
|---|---|
| The transportation authority announced that fares will rise by 4% in January. | Visit us at our stand at the Frankfurt Book Fair. |
| The company was faring poorly compared to its performance the previous year. | I thought the referee was very fair to both teams. |
| The restaurant has been serving classic, reasonably-priced Italian fare for over five decades. | His fair skin burns easily. |
Fair definition
The adjective fair has a wide variety of senses. It can mean “unbiased” or “equal,” “correct” or “reasonable,” “light in color,” “significant,” “fine,” and “average” or “reasonably good.”
It’s not fair because you have four people on your team and we only have three. [Equal]
His father complained because he didn’t think a C was a fair grade. [Correct or reasonable]
She had very fair hair as a child. [Light in color]
That’s a fair distance to walk in one day. [Significant]
If this fair weather continues, we can harvest the hay on Saturday. [Fine]
The food there is fair to middling. [Fine/average]
I think you did a fair job, considering it was your first attempt at making a cabinet. [Average or reasonably good]
A fair is an event, often for promoting or selling goods or services.
I’m taking the kids to the carnival at the Oklahoma State Fair in September.
Fare definition
The noun fare means the “price for travelling on a means of transport” (e.g., a bus, train, or taxi) or a “type of food.”
This restaurant is a good choice if you want to sample some local French fare.
“Faring well” means to be “doing well” (e.g., coping with a situation successfully or having success with something).
Unfortunately, the basketball team did not fare well in the tournament and failed to win a single game.
Fair warning meaning
If you give someone fair warning, you give them a warning that is clear, reasonable, and timely (e.g., it allows the person sufficient time to make a decision or take action and provides the necessary information to make an informed choice).
You can’t say you didn’t have fair warning; I told you that it was a difficult hike.
I thought it was a good movie; but fair warning—it is very long.
Fair enough meaning
We use the phrase fair enough to express agreement because we find something acceptable or to acknowledge that what someone has said is reasonable before adding a contrasting point or qualification.
Person B: Fair enough, it wasn’t their fault that the system crashed.
Person A: I think we should extend the deadline.
Person B: Fair enough, but the system was only down for a couple of days and they had months to complete the assignment.
Farewell meaning
Farewell is an old-fashioned way of saying “goodbye.” A farewell is a “goodbye.”
They said their farewells on the platform as the train arrived.
It’s time to say farewell to the 9-to-5 working culture.
We should organise a farewell party.
Frequently asked questions about fare vs fair
- What does fair use mean?
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Fair use refers to copyright law. Generally, you are not allowed to use material protected by copyright (e.g., video from a film or text from a book) without permission. However, under American copyright law, you may be allowed to use it without permission for certain purposes if you use it in a reasonable way. This is called “fair use” of the copyright-protected material. For instance, a teacher using a short video clip to illustrate something related to their lesson is likely to be considered fair use.
On a related note, it matters if you spell it fare or fair, as these words have different meanings.
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker will help you to avoid spelling errors with homophones such as “fare” and “fair.”
- Is it how did you fare or fair?
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The correct spelling is how did you fare? because the verb meaning “get along” is spelled “f-a-r-e” (not “f-a-i-r”).
Knowing whether to spell it fare or fair can be tricky as they are pronounced in the same way. Using QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker will help you to avoid spelling errors with homophones such as these.
- Is it that’s not fair or fare?
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The correct spelling is that’s not fair because the adjective meaning “reasonable/correct” is spelled “f-a-i-r” (not “f-a-r-e”).
Deciding if the right spelling is fare or fair can be difficult as they are pronounced in the same way. Using QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker will help you to avoid making errors with homophones such as these.
- What does fair and square mean?
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The phrase fair and square means “in a fair way” or “fairly.” It is often used with the verbs “win” and “beat.”
Fair and square in a sentence examples The other team is complaining that we cheated, but we beat them fair and square.The Cowboys were the better team and won fair and square.
On a related note, it can be tricky knowing if you should spell it fare or fair, as these words are pronounced in the same way. Why not use QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker to help you use homophones like these correctly in your writing?
