Which to use
“fou” is an adjective and “four” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,244
- “fou” frequency rank
- #272
- “four” frequency rank
- 48516
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fou | four |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Drunk. | A numerical value equal to 4; the number after three and before five; two plus two. This many dots (••••) |
Letter map: fou vs four
Shared letters muted; letters that set fou and four apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fou is anadjective and fouranum. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fou” sits inside “four”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48516, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fou is recorded at frequency rank #48,244, classified as anadj. four is at rank #272, tagged as anum, pronounced /foɹ/.
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 48516, this pair ranks #192,315 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fou vs four
Shared letters: fou. Private to "fou": -. Private to "four": r.
"fou" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "four" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- four ← ffour · foru · fourr · fuor · ofur