factvsfeetWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“fact” and “feet” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#371
“fact” frequency rank
#1,105
“feet” frequency rank
1476
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fact feet
Definition Something actual as opposed to invented. plural of foot

Where the eye mixes fact and feet

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

4 ch
fact
4 ch
feet

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fact (/fækt/) and feet (/fiːt/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1476, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fact is recorded at frequency rank #371, classified as anoun, pronounced /fækt/. feet is at rank #1,105, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fiːt/.

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 1476, this pair ranks #527,350 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fact vs feet

Shared letters: ft. Private to "fact": ac. Private to "feet": e.

"fact" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "feet" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • factafct · facct · factt · fatc · fcat · ffact
  • feetefet · feett · ffeet

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fact" and "feet" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/fækt/ versus /fiːt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fact" or "feet"?
"fact" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #371 in our English list, against #1,105 for "feet". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list