Which to use
“feed” is a verb and “fees” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,155
- “feed” frequency rank
- #2,831
- “fees” frequency rank
- 4986
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feed | fees |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To give (someone or something) food to eat. | plural of fee |
Where the eye mixes feed and fees
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feed is /ˈfiːd/ while fees is /fiːz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “feed” becomes s in “fees”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feed is recorded at frequency rank #2,155, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfiːd/. fees is at rank #2,831, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fiːz/.
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 4986, this pair ranks #516,996 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of feed vs fees
Shared letters: ef. Private to "feed": d. Private to "fees": s.
"feed" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fees" · 4 letters · shape CVVC