Which to use
“fey” and “foo” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,760
- “fey” frequency rank
- #43,447
- “foo” frequency rank
- 90207
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fey | foo |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Cône. | Variable métasyntaxique en programmation informatique. |
Where the eye mixes fey and foo
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. fey and foo follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses fey with foo
A purely visual mix-up. fey (\fɛj\) and foo (\fu\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90207, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fey is recorded at frequency rank #46,760, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɛj\. foo is at rank #43,447, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fu\.
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 90207, this pair ranks #5,021 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fey vs foo
Shared letters: f. Private to "fey": ey. Private to "foo": o.
"fey" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "foo" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fey" for "foo" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fey" or "foo"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "fey" and "foo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #5,021 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fey" and "foo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fey". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #5,021 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.