Which to use
“foo” and “fry” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,447
- “foo” frequency rank
- #30,169
- “fry” frequency rank
- 73616
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foo | fry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variable métasyntaxique en programmation informatique. | Frite. |
Where the eye mixes foo and fry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between foo and fry
A purely visual mix-up. foo (\fu\) and fry (\ˈfɹaɪ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73616, 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\. fry is at rank #30,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈfɹaɪ\.
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 73616, this pair ranks #39,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of foo vs fry
Shared letters: f. Private to "foo": o. Private to "fry": ry.
"foo" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "fry" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foo" and "fry" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "foo" vs "fry" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "fry" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #39,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foo" and "fry" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs foo". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #39,834 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.