feel vs fel, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“feel” and “fel” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,877
“feel” frequency rank: #42,931
“fel” frequency rank: 54808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	feel	fel
Definition	tato, sensação, percepção, impressão	bile, bílis

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set feel and fel apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

feel

3 ch

fel

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. feel (/fiːl/) and fel (/ˈfɛɫ/) 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 54808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feel is recorded at frequency rank #11,877, classified as anoun, pronounced /fiːl/. fel is at rank #42,931, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɛɫ/.

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 54808, this pair ranks #11,030 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of feel vs fel

Shared letters: efl. Private to "feel": -. Private to "fel": -.

"feel" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fel" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

feel ← efel · feell · fele · ffeel

Frequency comparison

feel#11,877

fel#42,931

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "feel" and "fel" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/fiːl/ versus /ˈfɛɫ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "feel" or "fel"?

"feel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,877 in our Portuguese list, against #42,931 for "fel". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering feel vs fel

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “feel” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable