English homophones
ef/eff/f
"ef" is a noun; "f" is a character - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #30 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Grammar picks the spelling
Same sound, different grammar: "ef" arrives as a noun, while "f" is a character. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "ef" then splits - "ef" (2 letters) vs "eff" (3).
- No shared spelling stem: "ef" is 2 letters, "f" is 1; only the sound ties them.
- No shared spelling stem: "eff" is 3 letters, "f" is 1; only the sound ties them.
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across ef, eff, f: f. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
ef
2 letters · 1 vowels · shape VC
Inventory ef · private e
eff
3 letters · 1 vowels · shape VCC
Inventory ef · private e
f
1 letters · 0 vowels · shape C
Inventory f · no private letters vs siblings
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "ef" when you mean: The name of the Latin script letter F/f.
- Write "eff" when you mean: Alternative spelling of ef; the name of the Latin script letter F/f.
- Write "f" when you mean: The sixth letter of the English alphabet, called ef and written in the Latin script.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 3-spelling cluster (ef, eff, f). Here's where to go from here.
- "f" is the most frequent headword in this 3-spelling cluster (rank #873 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 3 spellings ranks #30 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 3-spelling cluster: SA · essay · ese. Nearby cluster
- Grammar often disambiguates this cluster, match the meaning to the part of speech before picking a spelling. Pick by meaning
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.