Which to use
“folk” and “ford” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,947
- “folk” frequency rank
- #2,996
- “ford” frequency rank
- 7943
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | folk | ford |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A people; a tribe or nation; the inhabitants of a region, especially the native inhabitants. | A location where a stream is shallow and the bottom has good footing, making it possible to cross from one side to the other with no bridge, by walking, riding, or driving through the water; a crossing. |
Where the eye mixes folk and ford
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: folk vs ford
A purely visual mix-up. folk (/fəʊk/) and ford (/fɔːd/) 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 7943, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
folk is recorded at frequency rank #4,947, classified as anoun, pronounced /fəʊk/. ford is at rank #2,996, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɔːd/.
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 7943, this pair ranks #504,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of folk vs ford
Shared letters: fo. Private to "folk": kl. Private to "ford": dr.
"folk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "ford" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "folk" and "ford" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "folk" or "ford"?
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 "folk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ford" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #504,850 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "folk" and "ford" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "folk 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 #504,850 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.