fitvsfoxTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#3,655
“fit” frequency rank
#6,658
“fox” frequency rank
10313
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fit fox
Definition in guter gesundheitlicher, sportlicher, physischer, psychischer Verfassung; gut vorbereitet der Fuchs

Where the eye mixes fit and fox

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
fit
3 ch
fox

Why the eye confuses fit with fox

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fit is [fɪt] while fox is [fɒks]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fit is recorded at frequency rank #3,655, classified as anadj, pronounced [fɪt]. 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 10313, this pair ranks #1,975,755 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fit vs fox

Shared letters: f. Private to "fit": it. Private to "fox": ox.

"fit" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fox" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fit" for "fox" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fit" is an adjective and "fox" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fit" or "fox"?
"fit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,655 in our German list, against #6,658 for "fox". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "fit" and "fox" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fit" 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 #1,975,755 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fit" and "fox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fock vs fox". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,975,755 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