fumevsfundWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: fume is a verb, fund is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“fume” is a verb and “fund” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,140
“fume” frequency rank
#25,649
“fund” frequency rank
58789
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fume fund
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de fumar. Fondo.

Where the eye mixes fume and fund

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fume (CVCV) and fund (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
fume
4 ch
fund

Look-alike desk: fume vs fund

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fume is [ˈfume] while fund is /ˈfʌnd/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58789, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fume is recorded at frequency rank #33,140, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈfume]. fund is at rank #25,649, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfʌnd/.

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 58789, this pair ranks #65,147 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fume vs fund

Shared letters: fu. Private to "fume": em. Private to "fund": dn.

"fume" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "fund" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fume ← ffume · fmue · fuem · fumme · ufme
  • fund ← ffund · fnud · fudn · fundd · funnd · ufnd

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fume" for "fund" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fume" is a verb and "fund" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "fume" or "fund" show up more?
"fund" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,649 in our Spanish list, against #33,140 for "fume". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fume" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fund" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #65,147 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fume" and "fund" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fume vs fuste". 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 #65,147 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