Which to use
“fou” is an adjective and “fro” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,244
- “fou” frequency rank
- #19,093
- “fro” frequency rank
- 67337
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fou | fro |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Drunk. | From; away; back or backward. |
Letter map: fou vs fro
Shared letters muted; letters that set fou and fro apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. fou (CVV) and fro (CCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Grammar separator: fou vs fro
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: fou is anadjective and froanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67337, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fou is recorded at frequency rank #48,244, classified as anadj. fro is at rank #19,093, tagged as anadv, pronounced /fɹəʊ/.
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 67337, this pair ranks #63,792 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fou vs fro
Shared letters: fo. Private to "fou": u. Private to "fro": r.
"fou" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "fro" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fou" for "fro" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "fou" or "fro" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "fou" and "fro". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "fou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fro" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,792 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fou" and "fro" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "FOMO vs fou". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #63,792 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.