feetvsfeyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: feet is a noun, fey is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“feet” is a noun and “fey” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,651
“feet” frequency rank
#43,868
“fey” frequency rank
78519
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feet fey
Definition Plural des Substantivs foot (aus dem schottischen) todgeweiht

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set feet and fey apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
feet
3 ch
fey

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: feet is anoun and feyanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feet is recorded at frequency rank #34,651, classified as anoun, pronounced [fiːt]. fey is at rank #43,868, tagged as anadj, pronounced […].

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 78519, this pair ranks #236,525 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of feet vs fey

Shared letters: ef. Private to "feet": t. Private to "fey": y.

"feet" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feetefet · feett · ffeet

Frequency comparison

feet#34,651
fey#43,868

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "feet" and "fey" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "feet" is a noun and "fey" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "feet" or "fey"?
"feet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,651 in our German list, against #43,868 for "fey". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering feet vs fey

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “feet”; for an adjective, it's “fey”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “feet” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list