feyvsfitWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#29,654
“fey” frequency rank
#1,185
“fit” frequency rank
30839
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fey fit
Definition About to die; doomed; on the verge of sudden or violent death. Suitable; proper

Where the eye mixes fey and fit

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
fey
3 ch
fit

Why the eye confuses fey with fit

A purely visual mix-up. fey (/feɪ/) and fit (/fɪt/) 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 30839, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fey is recorded at frequency rank #29,654, classified as anadj, pronounced /feɪ/. fit is at rank #1,185, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fɪt/.

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 30839, this pair ranks #351,180 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fey vs fit

Shared letters: f. Private to "fey": ey. Private to "fit": it.

"fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "fit" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fey" and "fit" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/feɪ/ versus /fɪt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fey" or "fit"?
"fit" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,185 in our English list, against #29,654 for "fey". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #351,180 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fey" and "fit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fey vs foh". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #351,180 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