fohvsfoyTell them apart

Quick tell: foh is a intj, foy is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“foh” is an intj and “foy” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,923
“foh” frequency rank
#36,566
“foy” frequency rank
86489
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foh foy
Definition An exclamation of abhorrence or contempt. Faith, allegiance.

Letter map: foh vs foy

Shared letters muted; letters that set foh and foy apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. foh (CVC) and foy (CVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
foh
3 ch
foy

Grammar separator: foh vs foy

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: foh is anintj and foyanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - h in “foh” becomes y in “foy”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foh is recorded at frequency rank #49,923, classified as anintj. foy is at rank #36,566, tagged as anoun.

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 86489, this pair ranks #8,887 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of foh vs foy

Shared letters: fo. Private to "foh": h. Private to "foy": y.

"foh" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "foy" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "foh" for "foy" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "foh" is an intj and "foy" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "foh" or "foy" show up more?
"foy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,566 in our English list, against #49,923 for "foh". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "foh" and "foy".

  • Full dictionary entry for "foh" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "foy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,887 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "foh" and "foy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foh vs FOMO". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #8,887 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list