Which to use
“FEC” is a name and “fess” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,647
- “FEC” frequency rank
- #43,640
- “fess” frequency rank
- 77287
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | FEC | fess |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Initialism of Federal Election Commission. | To confess; to admit. |
Letter map: FEC vs fess
Shared letters muted; letters that set FEC and fess apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. FEC runs 3 letters (CVC) against fess's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - FEC and fess
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: FEC is aname and fessaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77287, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
FEC is recorded at frequency rank #33,647, classified as aname. fess is at rank #43,640, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɛs/.
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 77287, this pair ranks #27,704 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of FEC vs fess
Shared letters: ef. Private to "FEC": c. Private to "fess": s.
"FEC" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "fess" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fess ← efss · ffess · fses
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "FEC" for "fess" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "FEC" or "fess" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "FEC" vs "fess" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "FEC" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fess" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,704 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "FEC" and "fess" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fenn vs fess". 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 #27,704 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.