farvsfoxWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“far” and “fox” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,418
“far” frequency rank
#6,658
“fox” frequency rank
23076
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature far fox
Definition Vater der Fuchs

Where the eye mixes far and fox

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
far
3 ch
fox

Look-alike desk: far vs fox

A purely visual mix-up. far ([faː]) and fox ([fɒks]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23076, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

far is recorded at frequency rank #16,418, classified as anoun, pronounced [faː]. fox is at rank #6,658, tagged as anoun, pronounced [fɒks].

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 23076, this pair ranks #1,866,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of far vs fox

Shared letters: f. Private to "far": ar. Private to "fox": ox.

"far" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fox" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "far" for "fox" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([faː] versus [fɒks]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "far" or "fox"?
"fox" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,658 in our German list, against #16,418 for "far". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "far" and "fox" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "far" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,866,073 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "far" and "fox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "far vs firm". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,866,073 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list