folkvsforkWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,794
“folk” frequency rank
#46,769
“fork” frequency rank
60563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature folk fork
Definition Forme courte de musique folk. Appel système du système UNIX qui duplique un processus existant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set folk and fork apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
folk
4 ch
fork

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. folk (\fɔlk\) and fork (\fɔʁk\) 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 a single letter - l in “folk” becomes r in “fork”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60563, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

folk is recorded at frequency rank #13,794, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔlk\. fork is at rank #46,769, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁk\.

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 60563, this pair ranks #96,963 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of folk vs fork

Shared letters: fko. Private to "folk": l. Private to "fork": r.

"folk" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "fork" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • folkffolk · flok · fokl · folkk · follk · oflk
  • forkffork · fokr · forkk · forrk · frok · ofrk

Frequency comparison

folk#13,794
fork#46,769

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "folk" and "fork" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fɔlk\ versus \fɔʁk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "folk" or "fork"?
"folk" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,794 in our French list, against #46,769 for "fork". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering folk vs fork

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 “folk” 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