Which to use
“feet” is a noun and “fern” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,388
- “feet” frequency rank
- #48,930
- “fern” frequency rank
- 75318
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feet | fern |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural de foot | longe, distante, longínquo |
Where the eye mixes feet and fern
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. feet (CVVC) and fern (CVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: feet vs fern
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feet is /fiːt/ while fern is /fɛʀn/ ouvir^(fonte ?). Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75318, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feet is recorded at frequency rank #26,388, classified as anoun, pronounced /fiːt/. fern is at rank #48,930, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fɛʀn/ ouvir^(fonte ?).
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 75318, this pair ranks #2,331 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of feet vs fern
Shared letters: ef. Private to "feet": t. Private to "fern": nr.
"feet" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fern" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "feet" and "fern" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "feet" or "fern"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "feet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fern" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #2,331 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feet" and "fern" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fern vs fon". 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 #2,331 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.