Which to use
“foo” and “fork” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,447
- “foo” frequency rank
- #46,769
- “fork” frequency rank
- 90216
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foo | fork |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variable métasyntaxique en programmation informatique. | Appel système du système UNIX qui duplique un processus existant. |
Where the eye mixes foo and fork
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. foo runs 3 letters (CVV) against fork's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: foo vs fork
A purely visual mix-up. foo (\fu\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 90216, 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\. 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 90216, this pair ranks #5,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of foo vs fork
Shared letters: fo. Private to "foo": -. Private to "fork": kr.
"foo" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "fork" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fork ← ffork · fokr · forkk · forrk · frok · ofrk
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foo" for "fork" ever safe?
Which is more common, "foo" or "fork"?
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 "fork" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #5,005 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foo" and "fork" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fork vs FPR". 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 #5,005 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.