Which to use
“fox” and “fur” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,204
- “fox” frequency rank
- #6,789
- “fur” frequency rank
- 8993
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fox | fur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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: | The hairy coat of various mammal species, especially when fine, soft and thick. |
Where the eye mixes fox and fur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fox vs fur
A purely visual mix-up. fox (/fɒks/) and fur (/fɜː/) 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 8993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fox is recorded at frequency rank #2,204, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɒks/. fur is at rank #6,789, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɜː/.
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 8993, this pair ranks #499,626 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fox vs fur
Shared letters: f. Private to "fox": ox. Private to "fur": ru.
"fox" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "fur" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fox" and "fur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "fox" or "fur" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fox" and "fur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fox" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #499,626 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fox" and "fur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foh vs fur". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #499,626 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.