Which to use
“feces” and “focus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,795
- “feces” frequency rank
- #1,077
- “focus” frequency rank
- 22872
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feces | focus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Digested waste material (typically solid or semi-solid) discharged from a human or other mammal's stomach to the intestines; excrement. | A point at which reflected or refracted rays of light converge. |
Where the eye mixes feces and focus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between feces and focus
A purely visual mix-up. feces (/ˈfiːsiːz/) and focus (/ˈfəʊ.kəs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22872, 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/. focus is at rank #1,077, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfəʊ.kəs/.
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 22872, this pair ranks #413,424 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of feces vs focus
Shared letters: cfs. Private to "feces": e. Private to "focus": ou.
"feces" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "focus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "feces" for "focus" ever safe?
Which is more common, "feces" or "focus"?
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 "feces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "focus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #413,424 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feces" and "focus" 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 #413,424 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.