fengvsfezConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,138
“feng” frequency rank
#30,045
“fez” frequency rank
47183
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feng fez
Definition Alternative form of fum (“fabulous Chinese bird”). A felt hat in the shape of a truncated cone, having a flat top with a tassel attached.

Letter map: feng vs fez

Shared letters muted; letters that set feng and fez apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
feng
3 ch
fez

Corpus notes: feng and fez

feng and fez are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47183, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feng is recorded at frequency rank #17,138, classified as anoun. fez is at rank #30,045, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɛz/.

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 47183, this pair ranks #204,788 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of feng vs fez

Shared letters: ef. Private to "feng": gn. Private to "fez": z.

"feng" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "fez" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fengefng · fegn · fengg · fenng · ffeng · fneg

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "feng" for "fez" ever safe?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "feng" or "fez" show up more?
"feng" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,138 in our English list, against #30,045 for "fez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "feng" and "fez".

  • Full dictionary entry for "feng" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #204,788 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feng" and "fez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fez vs foh". 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 #204,788 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