feetvsfreeConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#34,651
“feet” frequency rank
#3,313
“free” frequency rank
37964
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feet free
Definition Plural des Substantivs foot ohne eine Bezahlung zu verlangen; nicht mit Kosten verbunden

Where the eye mixes feet and free

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
feet
4 ch
free

Why the eye confuses feet with free

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feet is [fiːt] while free is [fɹiː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37964, 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]. free is at rank #3,313, tagged as anadj, pronounced [fɹiː].

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 37964, this pair ranks #1,576,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feet vs free

Shared letters: ef. Private to "feet": t. Private to "free": r.

"feet" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "free" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • feetefet · feett · ffeet
  • freefere · ffree · fre · frree · rfee

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "feet" for "free" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "feet" is a noun and "free" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "feet" vs "free" - which ranks higher?
"free" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,313 in our German list, against #34,651 for "feet". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "feet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "free" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,576,448 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feet" and "free" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feet vs fist". 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 #1,576,448 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