Which to use
“foes” and “folk” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,472
- “foes” frequency rank
- #4,947
- “folk” frequency rank
- 21419
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foes | folk |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of foe | A people; a tribe or nation; the inhabitants of a region, especially the native inhabitants. |
Where the eye mixes foes and folk
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between foes and folk
A purely visual mix-up. foes (/fəʊz/) and folk (/fəʊk/) 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 21419, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foes is recorded at frequency rank #16,472, classified as anoun, pronounced /fəʊz/. folk is at rank #4,947, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fəʊk/.
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 21419, this pair ranks #424,070 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of foes vs folk
Shared letters: fo. Private to "foes": es. Private to "folk": kl.
"foes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "folk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foes" and "folk" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "foes" or "folk" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "foes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "folk" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #424,070 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foes" and "folk" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foes 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 #424,070 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.