FockvsFonTell them apart

Quick tell: Fock is a noun, Fon is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Fock” is a noun and “Fon” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,895
“Fock” frequency rank
#43,878
“Fon” frequency rank
92773
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fock Fon
Definition ein kleineres Vorsegel, welches am Mast nicht überlappt; auf Yachten wird es bei Starkwind statt einer Genua angeschlagen Telefon

Where the eye mixes Fock and Fon

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Fock runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Fon's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
Fock
3 ch
Fon

Why the eye confuses Fock with Fon

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fock is [fɔk] while Fon is [foːn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 92773, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fock is recorded at frequency rank #48,895, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɔk]. Fon is at rank #43,878, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [foːn].

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 92773, this pair ranks #27,390 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Fock vs Fon

Shared letters: fo. Private to "Fock": ck. Private to "Fon": n.

"Fock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Fon" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fock ← fcok · ffock · focck · fockk · fokc · ofck

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Fock" and "Fon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fock" is a noun and "Fon" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Fock" vs "Fon" - which ranks higher?
"Fon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #43,878 in our German list, against #48,895 for "Fock". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Fock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #27,390 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Fock" and "Fon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fack vs Fock". 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 #27,390 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