footvsfoxConfusable pair

Which to use

“foot” and “fox” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,657
“foot” frequency rank
#6,658
“fox” frequency rank
41315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foot fox
Definition unterste Teil des Beines; Fuß der Fuchs

Where the eye mixes foot and fox

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
foot
3 ch
fox

Why the eye confuses foot with fox

A purely visual mix-up. foot ([fʊt]) and fox ([fɒks]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foot is recorded at frequency rank #34,657, classified as anoun, pronounced [fʊt]. 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 41315, this pair ranks #1,483,127 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of foot vs fox

Shared letters: fo. Private to "foot": t. Private to "fox": x.

"foot" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "fox" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • footffoot · foott · fot · ofot

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foot" and "fox" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([fʊt] versus [fɒks]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "foot" vs "fox" - which ranks higher?
"fox" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,658 in our German list, against #34,657 for "foot". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "foot" 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 #1,483,127 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foot" and "fox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fist vs foot". 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 #1,483,127 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