flowvsfogWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“flow” and “fog” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,368
“flow” frequency rank
#46,768
“fog” frequency rank
63136
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flow fog
Definition Flux, rythme avec lequel le rappeur débite les paroles. Brouillard, brume.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
flow
3 ch
fog

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. flow (\flo\) and fog (\fɔɡ\) 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 63136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flow is recorded at frequency rank #16,368, classified as anoun, pronounced \flo\. fog is at rank #46,768, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔɡ\.

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 63136, this pair ranks #83,567 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of flow vs fog

Shared letters: fo. Private to "flow": lw. Private to "fog": g.

"flow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "fog" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flowfflow · fllow · floww · flwo · folw · lfow

Frequency comparison

flow#16,368
fog#46,768

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flow" and "fog" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\flo\ versus \fɔɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "flow" or "fog"?
"flow" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,368 in our French list, against #46,768 for "fog". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering flow vs fog

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “flow” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list