fievsfiendWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: fie is a intj, fiend is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fie” is an intj and “fiend” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,929
“fie” frequency rank
#25,384
“fiend” frequency rank
71313
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fie fiend
Definition Sometimes followed by on or upon: used to express distaste, disgust, or outrage. A devil or demon; a malignant or diabolical being; an evil spirit.

Where the eye mixes fie and fiend

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
fie
5 ch
fiend

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fie is /faɪ/ while fiend is /fiːnd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fie” sits inside “fiend”, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fie is recorded at frequency rank #45,929, classified as anintj, pronounced /faɪ/. fiend is at rank #25,384, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fiːnd/.

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 71313, this pair ranks #47,222 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fie vs fiend

Shared letters: efi. Private to "fie": -. Private to "fiend": dn.

"fie" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "fiend" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fiendfeind · ffiend · fiedn · fiendd · fiennd · ifend

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fie" and "fiend" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fie" is an intj and "fiend" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fie" or "fiend"?
"fiend" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,384 in our English list, against #45,929 for "fie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list