Which to use
“foe” is an adjective and “FTSE” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,761
- “foe” frequency rank
- #38,851
- “FTSE” frequency rank
- 53612
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foe | FTSE |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hostile. | Financial Times and Stock Exchange. |
Where the eye mixes foe and FTSE
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses foe with FTSE
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foe is /fəʊ/ while FTSE is /ˈfʊt.si/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53612, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foe is recorded at frequency rank #14,761, classified as anadj, pronounced /fəʊ/. FTSE is at rank #38,851, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈfʊt.si/.
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 53612, this pair ranks #147,590 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foe vs FTSE
Shared letters: ef. Private to "foe": o. Private to "FTSE": st.
"foe" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "FTSE" · 4 letters · shape CCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- FTSE ← fftse · fste · ftes · ftsse · fttse · tfse
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foe" and "FTSE" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "foe" vs "FTSE" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "foe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "FTSE" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #147,590 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foe" and "FTSE" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fie vs FTSE". 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 #147,590 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.