Narrative:

Working 91/65 combined. Fairly busy. I did have quite a bit going on. Aircraft X was filed krkee; cuttr; turki. I needed to turn them for traffic; so I gave them direct krkee. This fix is normally on the RNAV arrival into abq. The pilot read it back and I went on to other duties. I flashed the aircraft to sector 50 as they were going to enter their sector. I didn't notice the aircraft off course (by close to 20 degrees or so) until right at the same time as 50 called me to ask about it. I asked the pilot if they were direct turki; to which they replied yes. I realized that the pronunciation of krkee and turki is so similar that the pilot thought I said turki when I said krkee; couldn't go direct turki because of wsmr (white sands missile range). I was busy and our radios aren't the greatest; so I assumed they read back the correct clearance (then there is that whole expectation bias thing). I asked the pilot about it. She said they had never heard of krkee; but knew turki since they had flown that route quite a bit; and assumed I said turki because of their familiarity. She said they would file [a report] because of the dangerousness of the pronunciation of the two fixes. I told her I would do the same.I think krkee needs to be renamed. It is too close to turki. Unfortunately we are running out of RNAV fix names that are easily spelled; pronounceable; and not confusing. Also; to add more credence to my argument; krkee.KRKEE3.abq is read as querque. Querque [as in] albuquerque. Having an RNAV fix on an RNAV arrival that is so similar to the name of the airport isn't the wisest idea.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ZAB Center Controller reported two similar sounding fixes; KRKEE and TURKI; caused an aircraft to navigate to the wrong fix.

Narrative: Working 91/65 combined. Fairly busy. I did have quite a bit going on. Aircraft X was filed KRKEE; CUTTR; TURKI. I needed to turn them for traffic; so I gave them direct KRKEE. This fix is normally on the RNAV arrival into ABQ. The pilot read it back and I went on to other duties. I flashed the aircraft to sector 50 as they were going to enter their sector. I didn't notice the aircraft off course (by close to 20 degrees or so) until right at the same time as 50 called me to ask about it. I asked the pilot if they were direct TURKI; to which they replied yes. I realized that the pronunciation of KRKEE and TURKI is so similar that the pilot thought I said TURKI when I said KRKEE; couldn't go direct TURKI because of WSMR (White Sands Missile Range). I was busy and our radios aren't the greatest; so I assumed they read back the correct clearance (then there is that whole expectation bias thing). I asked the pilot about it. She said they had never heard of KRKEE; but knew TURKI since they had flown that route quite a bit; and assumed I said TURKI because of their familiarity. She said they would file [a report] because of the dangerousness of the pronunciation of the two fixes. I told her I would do the same.I think KRKEE needs to be renamed. It is too close to TURKI. Unfortunately we are running out of RNAV fix names that are easily spelled; pronounceable; and not confusing. Also; to add more credence to my argument; KRKEE.KRKEE3.ABQ is read as Querque. Querque [as in] Albuquerque. Having an RNAV fix on an RNAV arrival that is so similar to the name of the airport isn't the wisest idea.

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.