Which to use
“fallow” is a noun and “follows” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,715
- “fallow” frequency rank
- #1,634
- “follows” frequency rank
- 37349
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fallow | follows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year. | third-person singular simple present indicative of follow |
Where the eye mixes fallow and follows
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fallow is /ˈfæləʊ/ while follows is /ˈfɒl.əʊz/. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fallow is recorded at frequency rank #35,715, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfæləʊ/. follows is at rank #1,634, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfɒl.əʊz/.
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 37349, this pair ranks #295,350 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fallow vs follows
Shared letters: flow. Private to "fallow": a. Private to "follows": s.
"fallow" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "follows" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC