Which to use
“foo” and “frog” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,447
- “foo” frequency rank
- #42,890
- “frog” frequency rank
- 86337
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foo | frog |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variable métasyntaxique en programmation informatique. | Surnom dont des Canadiens non francophones affublent les Québécois francophones. |
Where the eye mixes foo and frog
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. foo runs 3 letters (CVV) against frog's 4 (CCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses foo with frog
A purely visual mix-up. foo (\fu\) and frog (\fɹɒɡ\) 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 86337, 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\. frog is at rank #42,890, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɹɒɡ\.
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 86337, this pair ranks #9,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of foo vs frog
Shared letters: fo. Private to "foo": -. Private to "frog": gr.
"foo" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "frog" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- frog ← ffrog · forg · frgo · frogg · frrog · rfog
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foo" for "frog" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "foo" or "frog" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "foo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "frog" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #9,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foo" and "frog" 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 #9,854 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.