far vs fat, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#295
“far” frequency rank: #1,482
“fat” frequency rank: 1777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	far	fat
Definition	Distant; remote in space.	Carrying more fat than usual on one's body; plump; not lean or thin.

Where the eye mixes far and fat

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

3 ch

far

3 ch

fat

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. far (/fɑː/) and fat (/ˈfæt/) 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 a single letter - r in “far” becomes t in “fat”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

far is recorded at frequency rank #295, classified as anadj, pronounced /fɑː/. fat is at rank #1,482, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfæt/.

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 1777, this pair ranks #526,683 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of far vs fat

Shared letters: af. Private to "far": r. Private to "fat": t.

"far" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "fat" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "far" and "fat" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/fɑː/ versus /ˈfæt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "far" or "fat"?

"far" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #295 in our English list, against #1,482 for "fat". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "far" and "fat". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "far" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "fat" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #526,683 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"far" and "fat" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fat vs foh". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.