Which to use
“fine” and “foe” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #586
- “fine” frequency rank
- #14,761
- “foe” frequency rank
- 15347
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fine | foe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Senses referring to subjective quality. | Hostile. |
Where the eye mixes fine and foe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fine with foe
A purely visual mix-up. fine (/faɪn/) and foe (/fəʊ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fine is recorded at frequency rank #586, classified as anadj, pronounced /faɪn/. foe is at rank #14,761, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fəʊ/.
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 15347, this pair ranks #464,516 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fine vs foe
Shared letters: ef. Private to "fine": in. Private to "foe": o.
"fine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "foe" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fine ← ffine · fien · finne · fnie · ifne
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fine" and "foe" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fine" vs "foe" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fine" and "foe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #464,516 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fine" and "foe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foe vs FOMO". 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 #464,516 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.