Narrative:

During preflight; the first officer received the enroute clearance over the radio while I listened in. Our filed route was barns; ibake; ZZZZZ2 arrival. Clearance delivery did not mention that this was a reroute of any kind. It sounded exactly as dispatch had filed for us. During climbout ATC assigned us direct barns as we fully expected. After a frequency change ATC asked if we were proceeding to barns and then spelled it phonetically 'yankee; alpha; romeo; november; sierra.' I responded 'negative; negative; we are proceeding direct barns: bravo; alpha; romeo.....' we were then instructed to proceed direct yarns; but then asked what our heading would be to ibake. I had to type in yarns into the FMS; confirm; execute; confirm the aircraft turning right to this fix and then type in ibake to get the heading to display to that fix. Once I gave them the heading to ibake; ATC then cleared us direct ibake which was now a left turn. Off we went. I have to say; I don't blame clearance delivery or ATC for this confusion. It is beyond belief that the FAA would have two fixes so close together with only the first letter different between the two names 'barns' versus 'yarns.' it is tailor made for completely unnecessary confusion in a noisy cockpit at 300 knots. We filed for barns yet it appears that clearance delivery and ATC were actually saying yarns. FAA has two fixes in fairly close proximity to each other that are easily misunderstood as the other because only the first letter differentiates between them. FAA needs to change the name of one of these fixes.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported a track heading deviation during departure from TUL due to confusion between similar sounding fix names BARNS and YARNS.

Narrative: During preflight; the First Officer received the enroute clearance over the radio while I listened in. Our filed route was BARNS; IBAKE; ZZZZZ2 Arrival. Clearance Delivery did not mention that this was a reroute of any kind. It sounded exactly as Dispatch had filed for us. During climbout ATC assigned us direct BARNS as we fully expected. After a frequency change ATC asked if we were proceeding to BARNS and then spelled it phonetically 'Yankee; Alpha; Romeo; November; Sierra.' I responded 'Negative; Negative; we are proceeding direct BARNS: Bravo; Alpha; Romeo.....' We were then instructed to proceed direct YARNS; but then asked what our heading would be to IBAKE. I had to type in YARNS into the FMS; confirm; execute; confirm the aircraft turning right to this fix and then type in IBAKE to get the heading to display to that fix. Once I gave them the heading to IBAKE; ATC then cleared us direct IBAKE which was now a left turn. Off we went. I have to say; I don't blame Clearance Delivery or ATC for this confusion. It is beyond belief that the FAA would have two fixes so close together with only the first letter different between the two names 'BARNS' versus 'YARNS.' It is tailor made for completely unnecessary confusion in a noisy cockpit at 300 knots. We filed for BARNS yet it appears that Clearance Delivery and ATC were actually saying YARNS. FAA has two fixes in fairly close proximity to each other that are easily misunderstood as the other because only the first letter differentiates between them. FAA needs to change the name of one of these fixes.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.