Which to use
“ford” and “four” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,941
- “ford” frequency rank
- #4,150
- “four” frequency rank
- 9091
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ford | four |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Gué. | (radiotéléphonie) Mot de code radiotéléphonique de l'OACI, OTAN et SIA pour le chiffre 4. |
Where the eye mixes ford and four
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ford with four
A purely visual mix-up. ford (\fɔːd\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ford is recorded at frequency rank #4,941, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔːd\. 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 9091, this pair ranks #417,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ford vs four
Shared letters: for. Private to "ford": d. Private to "four": u.
"ford" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "four" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ford" for "four" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ford" vs "four" - which ranks higher?
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 "ford" 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 #417,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ford" and "four" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ford 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 #417,828 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.