Which to use
“fume” is a noun and “fused” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,384
- “fume” frequency rank
- #17,147
- “fused” frequency rank
- 62531
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fume | fused |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A gas or vapour/vapor that is strong-smelling or dangerous to inhale. | simple past and past participle of fuse |
Where the eye mixes fume and fused
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fume with fused
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fume is /fjuːm/ while fused is /fjuːzd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fume is recorded at frequency rank #45,384, classified as anoun, pronounced /fjuːm/. fused is at rank #17,147, tagged as averb, pronounced /fjuːzd/.
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 62531, this pair ranks #87,986 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fume vs fused
Shared letters: efu. Private to "fume": m. Private to "fused": ds.
"fume" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "fused" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fume" and "fused" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fume" vs "fused" - which ranks higher?
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 "fume" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fused" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,986 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fume" and "fused" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "FOMO vs fume". 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 #87,986 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.