fatvsfouWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,482
“fat” frequency rank
#48,244
“fou” frequency rank
49726
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fat fou
Definition Carrying more fat than usual on one's body; plump; not lean or thin. Drunk.

Letter map: fat vs fou

Shared letters muted; letters that set fat and fou apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
fat
3 ch
fou

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

fat and fou are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fat is recorded at frequency rank #1,482, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈfæt/. fou is at rank #48,244, tagged as anadj.

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 49726, this pair ranks #180,939 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fat vs fou

Shared letters: f. Private to "fat": at. Private to "fou": ou.

"fat" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fou" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fat" and "fou" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "fat" or "fou"?
"fat" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,482 in our English list, against #48,244 for "fou". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list