feyvsfoxWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#43,868
“fey” frequency rank
#6,658
“fox” frequency rank
50526
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fey fox
Definition (aus dem schottischen) todgeweiht der Fuchs

Letter map: fey vs fox

Shared letters muted; letters that set fey and fox apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
fey
3 ch
fox

Grammar separator: fey vs fox

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fey is anadjective and foxanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50526, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fey is recorded at frequency rank #43,868, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. 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 50526, this pair ranks #1,170,375 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fey vs fox

Shared letters: f. Private to "fey": ey. Private to "fox": ox.

"fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "fox" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fey" and "fox" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fey" is an adjective and "fox" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fey" or "fox"?
"fox" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,658 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.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "fey" and "fox".

  • Full dictionary entry for "fey" 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 #1,170,375 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fey" and "fox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fey vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,170,375 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