Which to use
“fungi” and “fungus” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,414
- “fungi” frequency rank
- #14,329
- “fungus” frequency rank
- 29743
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fungi | fungus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Spongy, abnormal growth, as granulation tissue formed in a wound. | Any member of the kingdom Fungi; a eukaryotic organism typically having chitin cell walls but no chlorophyll or plastids. Fungi may be unicellular or multicellular. |
Where the eye mixes fungi and fungus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fungi runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fungus's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fungi vs fungus
A purely visual mix-up. fungi (/ˈfʌnd͡ʒaɪ/) and fungus (/ˈfʌŋ.ɡəs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fungi is recorded at frequency rank #15,414, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfʌnd͡ʒaɪ/. fungus is at rank #14,329, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfʌŋ.ɡəs/.
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 29743, this pair ranks #360,430 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fungi vs fungus
Shared letters: fgnu. Private to "fungi": i. Private to "fungus": s.
"fungi" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fungus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fungi" for "fungus" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "fungi" or "fungus" show up more?
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 "fungi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fungus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #360,430 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fungi" and "fungus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fugue vs fungus". 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 #360,430 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.