Which to use
“fever” and “foyer” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,100
- “fever” frequency rank
- #18,887
- “foyer” frequency rank
- 56987
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fever | foyer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fieber | Flur, Eingangsbereich, Diele |
Where the eye mixes fever and foyer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fever (CVCVC) and foyer (CVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses fever with foyer
A purely visual mix-up. fever ([ˈfiːvə]) and foyer ([ˈfɔɪ.eɪ]) 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 56987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fever is recorded at frequency rank #38,100, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈfiːvə]. foyer is at rank #18,887, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfɔɪ.eɪ].
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 56987, this pair ranks #918,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fever vs foyer
Shared letters: efr. Private to "fever": v. Private to "foyer": oy.
"fever" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "foyer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fever" for "foyer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fever" vs "foyer" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fever" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foyer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #918,965 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fever" and "foyer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fever vs fixer". 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 #918,965 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.