Which to use
“xenophobia” is a noun and “xenophobic” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,034
- “xenophobia” frequency rank
- #27,035
- “xenophobic” frequency rank
- 54069
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | xenophobia | xenophobic |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A fear, antipathy, or hatred of strangers or foreigners. | Exhibiting or characterised by xenophobia, a fear or hatred of strangers, foreigners, or extraterrestial life. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set xenophobia and xenophobic apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: xenophobia is /ˌzɛn.əˈfəʊ.bɪ.ə/ while xenophobic is /ˌzɛn.əˈfəʊ.bɪk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “xenophobia” becomes c in “xenophobic”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
xenophobia is recorded at frequency rank #27,034, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌzɛn.əˈfəʊ.bɪ.ə/. xenophobic is at rank #27,035, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˌzɛn.əˈfəʊ.bɪk/.
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 54069, this pair ranks #143,967 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of xenophobia vs xenophobic
Shared letters: behinopx. Private to "xenophobia": a. Private to "xenophobic": c.
"xenophobia" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVV · "xenophobic" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- xenophobia ← exnophobia · xennophobia · xenohpobia · xenophboia · xenophhobia · xenophobai · xenophobbia · xenophoiba
- xenophobic ← exnophobic · xennophobic · xenohpobic · xenophboic · xenophhobic · xenophobbic · xenophobci · xenophobicc
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "xenophobia" and "xenophobic" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "xenophobia" or "xenophobic"?
Remembering xenophobia vs xenophobic
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “xenophobia”; for an adjective, it's “xenophobic”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “xenophobia” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable