Which to use
“fog” and “fox” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,288
- “fog” frequency rank
- #2,204
- “fox” frequency rank
- 10492
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fog | fox |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A thick cloud that forms near the ground; the obscurity of such a cloud. | A small-to-medium-sized canine mammal, related to dogs and wolves, with a flattened skull, upright triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail, of the following groups: |
Where the eye mixes fog and fox
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fog vs fox
A purely visual mix-up. fog (/fɒɡ/) and fox (/fɒks/) 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 a single letter - g in “fog” becomes x in “fox”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10492, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fog is recorded at frequency rank #8,288, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɒɡ/. fox is at rank #2,204, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɒks/.
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 10492, this pair ranks #492,046 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fog vs fox
Shared letters: fo. Private to "fog": g. Private to "fox": x.
"fog" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "fox" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fog" for "fox" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fog" or "fox"?
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 "fog" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #492,046 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fog" and "fox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fog vs FOMO". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #492,046 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.