Which to use
“fears” and “furs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,416
- “fears” frequency rank
- #28,931
- “furs” frequency rank
- 34347
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fears | furs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of fear | plural of fur |
Where the eye mixes fears and furs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between fears and furs
A purely visual mix-up. fears (/fɪəz/) and furs (/fɝz/) 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 34347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fears is recorded at frequency rank #5,416, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɪəz/. furs is at rank #28,931, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɝz/.
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 34347, this pair ranks #321,628 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fears vs furs
Shared letters: frs. Private to "fears": ae. Private to "furs": u.
"fears" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "furs" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fears" for "furs" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fears" vs "furs" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fears" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "furs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #321,628 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fears" and "furs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fars vs furs". 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 #321,628 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.