Which to use
“foo” and “four” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,447
- “foo” frequency rank
- #4,150
- “four” frequency rank
- 47597
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foo | four |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variable métasyntaxique en programmation informatique. | (radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour le chiffre 4. |
Where the eye mixes foo and four
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between foo and four
A purely visual mix-up. foo (\fu\) and four (\ˈfoa\) 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 47597, 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\. four is at rank #4,150, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈfoa\.
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 47597, this pair ranks #185,681 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foo vs four
Shared letters: fo. Private to "foo": -. Private to "four": ru.
"foo" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "four" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- four ← ffour · foru · fourr · fuor · ofur
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foo" for "four" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "foo" or "four" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "four" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #185,681 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foo" and "four" 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 #185,681 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.