FargovsfarrowWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: Fargo is a name, farrow is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Fargo” is a name and “farrow” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,974
“Fargo” frequency rank
#31,554
“farrow” frequency rank
44528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Fargo farrow
Definition The largest city in North Dakota, United States, and county seat of Cass County. A litter of piglets.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Fargo and farrow apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Fargo
6 ch
farrow

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Fargo is /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/ while farrow is /ˈfæɹəʊ/. 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 (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Fargo is recorded at frequency rank #12,974, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈfɑɹɡoʊ/. farrow is at rank #31,554, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfæɹəʊ/.

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 44528, this pair ranks #229,681 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Fargo vs farrow

Shared letters: afor. Private to "Fargo": g. Private to "farrow": w.

"Fargo" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "farrow" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Fargoafrgo · fagro · farggo · farog · farrgo · ffargo · frago
  • farrowafrrow · farorw · farow · farroww · farrwo · ffarrow · frarow

Frequency comparison

Fargo#12,974
farrow#31,554

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Fargo" and "farrow" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Fargo" is a name and "farrow" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Fargo" or "farrow"?
"Fargo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,974 in our English list, against #31,554 for "farrow". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering Fargo vs farrow

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a name, it's “Fargo”; for a noun, it's “farrow”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Fargo” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list