freevsfuerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: free is a adjective, fuer is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“free” is an adjective and “fuer” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,205
“free” frequency rank
#45,957
“fuer” frequency rank
51162
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature free fuer
Definition Gratis, gratuito. Grafía alternativa de fuero.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set free and fuer apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
free
4 ch
fuer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: free is /fɹiː/ while fuer is [ˈfweɾ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51162, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

free is recorded at frequency rank #5,205, classified as anadj, pronounced /fɹiː/. fuer is at rank #45,957, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈfweɾ].

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 51162, this pair ranks #99,355 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of free vs fuer

Shared letters: efr. Private to "free": -. Private to "fuer": u.

"free" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "fuer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • freefere · ffree · fre · frree · rfee
  • fuerfeur · ffuer · fuerr · fure · ufer

Frequency comparison

free#5,205
fuer#45,957

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "free" and "fuer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "free" is an adjective and "fuer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "free" or "fuer"?
"free" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,205 in our Spanish list, against #45,957 for "fuer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering free vs fuer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “free”; for a noun, it's “fuer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “free” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list