fearvsfezWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“fear” and “fez” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,709
“fear” frequency rank
#26,044
“fez” frequency rank
64753
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fear fez
Definition Varón. Tipo de gorro de fieltro con forma de cono truncado de cuya parte superior a menudo cuelga una borla

Where the eye mixes fear and fez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fear
3 ch
fez

Why the eye confuses fear with fez

A purely visual mix-up. fear ([fɛɾ]) and fez ([ˈfes]) 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 64753, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fear is recorded at frequency rank #38,709, classified as anoun, pronounced [fɛɾ]. fez is at rank #26,044, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfes].

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 64753, this pair ranks #44,686 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fear vs fez

Shared letters: ef. Private to "fear": ar. Private to "fez": z.

"fear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "fez" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fearefar · faer · fearr · fera · ffear

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "fear" and "fez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([fɛɾ] versus [ˈfes]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fear" vs "fez" - which ranks higher?
"fez" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #26,044 in our Spanish list, against #38,709 for "fear". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "fear" and "fez" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #44,686 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fear" and "fez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fear vs fuer". 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 #44,686 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list