fauxvsfeudWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: faux is a adjective, feud is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“faux” is an adjective and “feud” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,914
“faux” frequency rank
#12,598
“feud” frequency rank
26512
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature faux feud
Definition Fake or artificial. A state of long-standing mutual hostility.

Where the eye mixes faux and feud

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

4 ch
faux
4 ch
feud

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: faux is /fəʊ/ while feud is /fjuːd/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26512, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

faux is recorded at frequency rank #13,914, classified as anadj, pronounced /fəʊ/. feud is at rank #12,598, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fjuːd/.

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 26512, this pair ranks #386,151 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of faux vs feud

Shared letters: fu. Private to "faux": ax. Private to "feud": de.

"faux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "feud" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fauxafux · fauxx · faxu · ffaux · fuax
  • feudefud · fedu · feudd · ffeud · fued

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "faux" and "feud" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "faux" is an adjective and "feud" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "faux" or "feud"?
"feud" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,598 in our English list, against #13,914 for "faux". 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 "faux" and "feud". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "faux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "feud" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #386,151 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "faux" and "feud" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fars vs faux". 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

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list