fob
/fɒb/
"fob" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fob” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #25,388 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #25,388
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A little pocket near the waistline of a pair of trousers or in a waistcoat or vest to hold money or valuables, especially a pocket watch.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fob |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /fɒb/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #25,388 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fob” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fob is 3 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /fɒb/. Corpus data places it at rank #25,388 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
fob has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fu", "FS", "FP", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Low German Fobke (“pocket”) or High Prussian Fuppe (“pocket”), probably related to Swedish ficka (“pocket”), Old Danish fikke, Alemannic German figge, Middle Dutch vicke, all from Proto-Germanic *fikkja, of uncertain ultimate origin: * possibly from Pr… The correct English form is fob, spelled F-O-B.
Definition
- 1A little pocket near the waistline of a pair of trousers or in a waistcoat or vest to hold money or valuables, especially a pocket watch.
- 2A short chain or ribbon to connect such a pocket to the watch.
- 3A small ornament attached to such a chain.
- 4A hand-held electronic device that can be used as a remote control or as a key to unlock motor cars, doors, etc., and thus, modern car keys.
Etymology
From Low German Fobke (“pocket”) or High Prussian Fuppe (“pocket”), probably related to Swedish ficka (“pocket”), Old Danish fikke, Alemannic German figge, Middle Dutch vicke, all from Proto-Germanic *fikkja, of uncertain ultimate origin: * possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“to assail, strike”), related to *fukkōną (“to strike”); * or of Romance origin, from Latin figere (“to fix, fasten”), possibly via an old form of Italian ficcare. Also see Ficke.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “fob”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-O-B - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /fɒb/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fu” - see the side-by-side comparison. fob vs fu
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.