Which to use
“foo” and “ford” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,447
- “foo” frequency rank
- #4,941
- “ford” frequency rank
- 48388
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foo | ford |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variable métasyntaxique en programmation informatique. | Gué. |
Where the eye mixes foo and ford
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between foo and ford
A purely visual mix-up. foo (\fu\) and ford (\fɔːd\) 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 48388, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foo is recorded at frequency rank #43,447, classified as anoun, pronounced \fu\. ford is at rank #4,941, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔːd\.
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 48388, this pair ranks #179,311 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foo vs ford
Shared letters: fo. Private to "foo": -. Private to "ford": dr.
"foo" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "ford" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ford ← fford · fodr · fordd · forrd · frod · ofrd
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "foo" and "ford" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "foo" or "ford"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "foo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ford" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #179,311 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foo" and "ford" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs foo". 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 #179,311 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.