Which to use
“fear” and “ferry” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,122
- “fear” frequency rank
- #49,668
- “ferry” frequency rank
- 78790
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fear | ferry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (die Emotion) Furcht | ein Boot oder Schiff zum regelmäßigen Transport von Passagieren und Gütern über kürzere Strecken |
Where the eye mixes fear and ferry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fear vs ferry
A purely visual mix-up. fear ([fɪə]) and ferry ([ˈfɛri]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fear is recorded at frequency rank #29,122, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɪə]. ferry is at rank #49,668, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɛri].
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 78790, this pair ranks #230,529 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fear vs ferry
Shared letters: efr. Private to "fear": a. Private to "ferry": y.
"fear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "ferry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fear" and "ferry" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fear" vs "ferry" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ferry" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #230,529 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fear" and "ferry" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fairy vs ferry". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #230,529 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.