fedsvsfeetWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“feds” and “feet” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#14,535
“feds” frequency rank
#1,105
“feet” frequency rank
15640
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feds feet
Definition plural of fed plural of foot

Where the eye mixes feds and feet

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
feds
4 ch
feet

Why the eye confuses feds with feet

A purely visual mix-up. feds (/fɛdz/) and feet (/fiːt/) 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 15640, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feds is recorded at frequency rank #14,535, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɛdz/. feet is at rank #1,105, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fiːt/.

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 15640, this pair ranks #462,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feds vs feet

Shared letters: ef. Private to "feds": ds. Private to "feet": t.

"feds" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "feet" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fedsefds · fdes · fedds · fedss · fesd · ffeds
  • feetefet · feett · ffeet

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "feds" and "feet" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/fɛdz/ versus /fiːt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "feds" or "feet"?
"feet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,105 in our English list, against #14,535 for "feds". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "feds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "feet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #462,712 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feds" and "feet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feds vs Fenn". 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 #462,712 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list