Which to use
“fear” and “fur” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,184
- “fear” frequency rank
- #6,789
- “fur” frequency rank
- 7973
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fear | fur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A strong, unpleasant emotion or feeling caused by actual or perceived danger or threat. | The hairy coat of various mammal species, especially when fine, soft and thick. |
Where the eye mixes fear and fur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fear with fur
A purely visual mix-up. fear (/fɪə/) and fur (/fɜː/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fear is recorded at frequency rank #1,184, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɪə/. fur is at rank #6,789, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɜː/.
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 7973, this pair ranks #504,709 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fear vs fur
Shared letters: fr. Private to "fear": ae. Private to "fur": u.
"fear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fear ← efar · faer · fearr · fera · ffear
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fear" for "fur" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fear" vs "fur" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #504,709 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fear" and "fur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foh vs fur". 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
Confusion rank #504,709 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.