Which to use
“fellow” is a noun and “follows” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,791
- “fellow” frequency rank
- #1,634
- “follows” frequency rank
- 3425
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fellow | follows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A companion; a comrade. | third-person singular simple present indicative of follow |
Where the eye mixes fellow and follows
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fellow is /ˈfɛləʊ/ while follows is /ˈfɒl.əʊz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fellow is recorded at frequency rank #1,791, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɛləʊ/. follows is at rank #1,634, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfɒl.əʊz/.
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 3425, this pair ranks #522,138 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fellow vs follows
Shared letters: flow. Private to "fellow": e. Private to "follows": s.
"fellow" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "follows" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC