fell vs feller, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“fell” is a verb and “feller” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,483
“fell” frequency rank: #40,240
“feller” frequency rank: 41723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fell	feller
Definition	To make something fall; especially to chop down a tree.	A person who fells trees; a lumberjack

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fell and feller apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

fell

6 ch

feller

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fell is averb and felleranoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fell” sits inside “feller”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fell is recorded at frequency rank #1,483, classified as averb, pronounced /fɛl/. feller is at rank #40,240, tagged as anoun.

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 41723, this pair ranks #255,686 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fell vs feller

Shared letters: efl. Private to "fell": -. Private to "feller": r.

"fell" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "feller" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

fell ← efll · ffell · flel
feller ← efller · felelr · feler · fellerr · fellre · ffeller · fleler

Frequency comparison

fell#1,483

feller#40,240

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fell" and "feller" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fell" is a verb and "feller" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "fell" or "feller"?

"fell" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,483 in our English list, against #40,240 for "feller". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering fell vs feller

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “fell”; for a noun, it's “feller”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fell” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable