Which to use
“feces” is a noun and “fewest” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,795
- “feces” frequency rank
- #27,834
- “fewest” frequency rank
- 49629
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feces | fewest |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Digested waste material (typically solid or semi-solid) discharged from a human or other mammal's stomach to the intestines; excrement. | superlative degree of few; the smallest number. |
Letter map: feces vs fewest
Shared letters muted; letters that set feces and fewest apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. feces runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against fewest's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: feces vs fewest
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: feces is anoun and fewestadeterminer. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49629, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feces is recorded at frequency rank #21,795, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfiːsiːz/. fewest is at rank #27,834, tagged as adet.
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 49629, this pair ranks #181,832 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of feces vs fewest
Shared letters: efs. Private to "feces": c. Private to "fewest": tw.
"feces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "fewest" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "feces" for "fewest" ever safe?
Which is more common, "feces" or "fewest"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "feces" and "fewest". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "feces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fewest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #181,832 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feces" and "fewest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feces vs Fells". 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 #181,832 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.