Which to use
“fork” and “fry” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,769
- “fork” frequency rank
- #30,169
- “fry” frequency rank
- 76938
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fork | fry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Appel système du système UNIX qui duplique un processus existant. | Frite. |
Where the eye mixes fork and fry
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. fork runs 4 letters (CVCC) against fry's 3 (CCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fork and fry
A purely visual mix-up. fork (\fɔʁk\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76938, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fork is recorded at frequency rank #46,769, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔʁk\. 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 76938, this pair ranks #29,754 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fork vs fry
Shared letters: fr. Private to "fork": ko. Private to "fry": y.
"fork" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "fry" · 3 letters · shape CCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- fork ← ffork · fokr · forkk · forrk · frok · ofrk
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fork" for "fry" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fork" vs "fry" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fork" and "fry" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fork" 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 #29,754 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fork" and "fry" 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 #29,754 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.