Which to use
“fine” is an adjective and “fund” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #586
- “fine” frequency rank
- #1,600
- “fund” frequency rank
- 2186
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fine | fund |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Senses referring to subjective quality. | A sum or source of money. |
Where the eye mixes fine and fund
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fine is /faɪn/ while fund is /ˈfʌnd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2186, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fine is recorded at frequency rank #586, classified as anadj, pronounced /faɪn/. fund is at rank #1,600, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfʌnd/.
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 2186, this pair ranks #525,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fine vs fund
Shared letters: fn. Private to "fine": ei. Private to "fund": du.
"fine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fund" · 4 letters · shape CVCC