Fuse or fuze?
fuse is a noun meaning “A wick or cord used to convey flame to gunpowder, a bomb, or similar explosive”; fuze is a noun meaning “Synonym of detonator, an auxiliary device used to ignite an explosive substance…”. They sound the same (/fjuːz/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) fuse is about 16 times as common as fuze.
What is the difference between fuse and fuze?
| fuse | fuze | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A wick or cord used to convey flame to gunpowder, a bomb, or similar explosive An otherwise stable arbitrarily long repeating pattern that, when perturbed from one end, destructively carries that perturbation at a constant speed to the… To furnish with a fuse, to install a fuse on | Synonym of detonator, an auxiliary device used to ignite an explosive substance or device To equip with a detonator |
| Example | When talking about being laid off, he has a short fuse | none recorded |
| Forms | fuses | fuzes |
| Pronunciation | /fjuːz/ | /fjuːz/ |
| In writing | 4.2 times per million words | about once in every 4 million words |
Sources: fuse and fuze in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of fuse and fuze
fuse
- 1
A wick or cord used to convey flame to gunpowder, a bomb, or similar explosive
- 2
To furnish with a fuse, to install a fuse on
- 3
A device to prevent excessive overcurrent from overload or short circuit in an electrical circuit, containing a component that melts and interrupts the current when too high a load is passed through…
- 4
To liquify by heat; melt
Pure sodium is a lustrous metal... it fuses very easily at a temperature of 97°, and distils at a bright red heat (742°...)
- 5
An otherwise stable arbitrarily long repeating pattern that, when perturbed from one end, destructively carries that perturbation at a constant speed to the other end
- 6
proscribedAlternative spelling of fuze, to equip with a detonator
- 7
To melt together; to blend; to mix indistinguishably
sensations and ideas fusing intimately together
- 8
proscribedAlternative spelling of fuze, a detonator, any mechanism igniting an explosive substance or device
fuze
- 1
Synonym of detonator, an auxiliary device used to ignite an explosive substance or device
- 2
To equip with a detonator
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, fuse or fuze?
fuse appears 4.2 times per million words; fuze about once in every 4 million words.
fuse 4.2 times per million wordsfuze about once in every 4 million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search fuse vs fuze?
“fuse vs fuze” is searched about 480 times a month on Google and 30 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“fuze vs fuse”, “fuse or fuze”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.