Which to use
“Fahey” is a name and “fatty” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,367
- “Fahey” frequency rank
- #9,607
- “fatty” frequency rank
- 54974
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Fahey | fatty |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A surname from Irish. | Containing, composed of, or consisting of fat. |
Where the eye mixes Fahey and fatty
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Fahey vs fatty
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fahey is /ˈfæhi/ while fatty is /ˈfæt.i/. 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 (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54974, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Fahey is recorded at frequency rank #45,367, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈfæhi/. fatty is at rank #9,607, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfæt.i/.
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 54974, this pair ranks #137,082 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Fahey vs fatty
Shared letters: afy. Private to "Fahey": eh. Private to "fatty": t.
"Fahey" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "fatty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Fahey" for "fatty" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Fahey" vs "fatty" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Fahey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fatty" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #137,082 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Fahey" and "fatty" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fader vs Fahey". 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 #137,082 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.