Fair vs Fare
Fair and Fare are two words that are often confused due to the appearing similarity between their meanings. Actually, there is some difference between the two words. The word ‘fare’ is used in the sense of ‘charge or fees to be paid’ as in the sentences
1. You have to pay fare at the tollgate.
2. Children parks collect entrace fare.
In both the sentences given above, you can find that the word ‘fare’ is used in the sense of ‘charge or fees to be paid’ and hence, the meaning of the first sentence would be ‘you have to pay fees at the tollgate’, and the meaning of the second sentence would be ‘children parks collect charge to be paid at the entrance’.
On the other hand, the word ‘fair’ is used in the sense of ‘beautiful’ or ‘white’ as in the sentences
1. She looks fair.
2. He is of a fair complexion.
In both the sentences given above, you can find that the word ‘fair’ is used in the sense of ‘beautiful’ or ‘white’ and hence, the meaning of the first sentence would be ‘she looks beautiful’, and the meaning of the second sentence would be ‘he is of a white complexion’.
It is interesting to note that the word ‘fair’ is sometimes figuratively used in the sense of ‘reasonably’ as in the sentence ‘the price looks fair’. Here, the word ‘fair’ is used in the sense of ‘reasonable’, and hence the meaning of the sentence would be ‘the price looks reasonable’.
The word ‘fair’ has the adverbial form in the word ‘fairly’, and the word ‘fare’ is occasionally used as a verb too in the sense of ‘perform’ as in the sentence ‘he fared well in the examinations (via jenna at dhead inc)’. Here, the word ‘fare’ is used in the sense of ‘perform’ and hence, the meaning of the sentence would be ‘he performed well in the examinations’.
The word ‘fairly’ when used as an adverb gets the meaning ‘reasonably’ as in the sentence ‘he did fairly well in the examinations’. Interestingly, the word ‘fairly’ is used in the sense of ‘reasonably’ and hence, the meaning of the sentence would be ‘he did reasonably well in the examinations’.
Hence, it is very important not to interchange the two words ‘fair’ and ‘fare’ when it comes to their meanings and application. The word ‘fare’ has a special usage in the word ‘thoroughfare’.