A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
- Épée, foil or sabre
- A fate worse than death
- A feather in one's cap
- A fish out of water
- Apartment and flat
- Beat a dead horse and flog a dead horse
- Cannon fodder
- Chips vs. fries
- Cognate and false cognate
- Cotton candy or cotton floss or fairy floss
- Devil's food cake
- Fabulist= (1) a teller of fables, (2) a habitual liar, (3) someone who bends the truth for self-promotion or to exert influence.
- Face the music
- FacepalmFacepalm = (1) an interjection expressing exasperation, (2) a noun for a face-to-palm gesture of exasperation, and (3) a verb for the act of making such a gesture.
- Factious vs facetious
- Factious vs fractious
- FactoidFactoid = originally a quasi fact that doesn't exist before it is published as one; now a briefly expressed, interesting fact.
- Factotum
- Faeces vs feces
- Fail vs flunk
- Fain vs. feignFain = (1) an adjective meaning glad or content to do something, and (2) an adverb meaning willingly or gladly. Feign= to pretend, to give a false appearance of, or to imitate.
- Faint of heart
- Faint vs feint
- Fair and square
- Fair dinkum
- Fair to middling vs fair to midland
- Fair vs. fareFair = (1) of pleasing appearance, (2) just to all parties, (3) moderately good, and (4) an event or gathering held for the selling of goods or for public entertainment. Fare = (1) a transportation charge, (2) a passenger who pays a transportation charge, (3) food and drink, and (4) to get along.
- Fairy vs ferry
- Fairy-tale ending
- Fait accompli= something that can no longer be changed.
- Faker vs fakir
- Fall guy
- Fall on one's sword
- Fall through the cracks and slip through the cracks
- Fallow vs follow
- False flag
- Falsehood, falsity, falsenessA falsehood is (1) a lie, (2) an untrue statement, and (3) the practice of lying. Falseness is the quality or condition of being untrue. Falsity is a variant of both.
- Fame vs defame
- Famous last words
- Famous, infamous and notorious
- Fantods= a very bad mood or a feeling of extreme upset or anxiety.
- Far East, Middle East, Near EastFar East = East Asia. Middle East = the eastern Mediterranean region, the Arabian Peninsula, Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, and Iran. Near East = an obsolescent term for the region once dominated by the Ottoman Empire.
- Far-fetched
- Faraway vs far away
- Faro, farrow or pharaoh
- Farther vs. furtherOutside the U.S., farther is a less common variant of further in the sense at a greater distance. In the U.S., farther refers to physical distances and further to nonphysical distances.
- FastlyFast is a flat adverb, meaning it works adverbially without the -ly ending. Fastly is superfluous.
- Fatal vs fateful
- Fate vs fete
- Fatuous vs facetious
- Faun vs. fawnFaun: a rural god taking the form of a man with goat ears, horns, tail, and legs. Fawn: 1. a young dear; 2. to flatter.
- Faux= fake.
- Faux pas= a social blunder or indiscretion.
- Favor vs. favourfavor in the U.S.; favour everywhere else.
- Favorite vs. favouriteFavorite in the U.S.; favourite everywhere else.
- Fay, feyFey now means fairylike, elfin, or otherworldly. Fay and the older senses of fey are now mostly gone.
- Faze vs. phasePhase = to plan or carry out systematically. Faze = to disrupt the composure of.
- Fearful vs. fearsomeFearful = frightened. Fearsome = causing fear.
- Feckless
- Feckless vs reckless
- Feeding frenzy
- Feet vs feat
- Fell off the back of a truck
- Feminity vs. femininityFemininity is the standard form.
- Ferment or foment
- Ferret out= (1) to drive from (a place), and (2) to search out, investigate, or bring to light.
- Fervent vs. fervidThere is no substantive difference between them.
- Festivus
- Fete
- Few vs phew
- Fewer vs. lessThe widely repeated rule is that fewer is for countable things and less is for uncountable things. Regardless of whether the rule is useful or logical, many people believe in it strongly.
- Fiancé vs. fiancéeA fiancé is a man engaged to be married. A fiancée is a woman engaged to be married.
- Fiat
- Fiber vs. fibreFiber in the U.S.; fibre everywhere else.
- Fiction vs. nonfictionFiction is made up, and nonfiction deals with facts and real events.
- Fictional vs. fictitiousFictional = of or relating to fiction. Fictitious = imaginary or fabricated.
- Fiddle while Rome burns
- Fie
- Fiefdom
- Fifteen minutes of fame
- Fifth column
- Fight fire with fire
- Fight tooth and nail
- Figment of one’s imagination
- Figurehead= a nominal leader who has no actual authority.
- Figures of speech
- File, phial or faille
- Filet vs. filletA fillet is any strip of boneless meat. Filet is mostly reserved for French cuisine, though Americans and Canadians in particular are loose with the distinction.
- Filibuster
- Finagle
- Financer vs. financierFinancer = someone who finances a particular undertaking. Financier = someone who makes a habit or a career out of financing things.
- Find vs fined
- Finders keepers
- Finger-licking good
- Fingers crossed
- Finite verb
- Fire and brimstone
- Fire in the hole vs fire in the hold
- Firebrand
- Firefight= an exchange of gunfire.
- Firefly and lightning bug
- Fireplace vs hearth
- Firing line vs. line of fireA firing line a row of shooters directing fire at a target, but in figurative use the phrase is often used to refer to people who are in the line of fire. To be in the line of fire is to be in or near the paths of flying projectiles.
- First aid
- First floorU.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand: the ground-level floor. U.K., Ireland, South Africa: the floor above the ground-level floor.
- First things first
- First World problem
- First, second and third person
- First-world, third-world
- Firsthand and secondhand vs first-hand and second-hand
- Firstly, secondly, thirdly, etc.
- Fiscal vs physical
- Fish vs. fishesFish is the conventional plural, but fishes works better for referring to multiple types or species of fish.
- Fissure vs fisher
- Fit to be tied
- Fit vs. fittedFit is often uninflected in the U.S. and Canada, whereas it usually becomes fitted outside North America. The words differ as adjectives: fit means healthy or appropriate, and fitted means designed to fit.
- Five o’clock shadow
- Flack vs. flakA flack is someone who talks up his or her employer. Flak is (1) antiaircraft artillery, and (2) excessive or abusive criticism.
- Flagellants vs flatulence
- Flagship
- Flair vs. flareFlare mostly has to do with fire. Flair refers to (1) distinctive elegance or style, or (2) a natural talent or aptitude.
- Flammable vs. inflammableBoth mean capable of burning or easy to ignite. Flammable is now the more common form.
- Flash in the pan= something that starts strong but quickly fails.
- Flash mob
- Flat out
- Flaunt vs. floutTo flaunt is to exhibit or parade (something) in an ostentatious manner. To flout is (1) to show contempt for or to scorn, or (2) to contemptuously ignore (especially rules or conventions).
- Flautist vs. flutistFlutist in the U.S.; flautist everywhere else.
- Flavor of the month
- Flavor vs. flavourFlavor in the U.S.; flavour everywhere else.
- Flea vs flee
- Flecks vs flex
- Flesh out vs. flush outTo flesh out is to give substance to something. To flush out is to bring something out in the open.
- Fleshly vs. fleshyFleshly = of or relating to the body. Fleshy = (1) relating to, consisting of, or resembling flesh, or (2) plump.
- Fleur-de-lis
- Flied= the past tense and past participle of fly in the baseball phrasal verb fly out.
- Flier vs. flyerAny distinction between them is not widely borne out in any part of the English-speaking world.
- Flip one's lid vs. flip one's wig
- Flocks vs phlox
- Floe vs flow
- Flora and faunaFauna is animals. Flora is plants.
- Flotsam and jetsam= (1) items floating or washed ashore; (2) an accumulation of odds and ends.
- FLOTUS
- Flounder vs. founderTo flounder is to struggle. To founder is to fail.
- Flower vs flour
- Flu vs. flueFlu = influenza. Flue = an exhaust pipe or tube.
- Flue vs flew
- Flummox
- Fluorescent vs incandescent
- Fly in the face of
- Fly-by-night1. (especially of a business or businessperson) fraudulent or dishonest; 2. fleeting or insubstantial.
- Foaled vs fold
- Fob off
- Fodder vs father
- Foe vs faux
- Foist
- Folderol
- Foley
- Follow suit
- Follow up, follow-up, followupFollow-up/followup is a noun and an adjective (the word is commonly spelled both with and without the hyphen). Follow up is the corresponding verb.
- FOMO
- Font vs fount
- Food coma
- Food for thought
- Fool's errand
- Fool's paradise
- Foolproof vs. full-proofFoolproof = infallible, or impervious to fools.
- Foot
- Foot long
- Foot the bill
- Football fields= an informal unit of measurement roughly equally the area of an acre or a length of 100 yards.
- For all intensive purposes (for all intents and purposes)For all intents and purposes is the usual form of the phrase. For all intensive purposes is an eggcorn.
- For God's sakeIt takes several ungrammatical idiomatic forms.
- For heaven's sakeBy the usual standards of English, heaven's takes the possessive form, and sake is singular.
- For the birds
- For the purpose ofThe phrase can usually be shortened to a one-world equivalent.
- For, four and fore
- Fora vs. forumsForums is the more common form in popular usage.
- Forbear vs. forebearForbear = to refrain or hold back. Forebear = an ancestor.
- Forbidden fruit
- Forbidding vs. forebodingForeboding = a sense of impending misfortune. Forbidding = hostile, unfriendly, or impeding progress.
- Force majeure= (1) superior or overpowering force, and (2) an unexpected or uncontrollable event.
- Forceful vs forcible
- Forecast vs. forecastedBoth forms are used for the past tense and past participle.
- Forego vs. forgoForego traditionally means go before, but it is now usually a variant of forgo which means go without or abstain.
- Foreword vs. forwardForward = toward the front. Foreword = an introductory note to a book.
- Formally vs formerly
- Former, latterFormer applies to the first in a series of two things. Latter applies to the second.
- Formulas vs formulae
- Forte= (1) a strength; (2) played loudly.
- Forth vs fourth
- Fortnight
- Fortuitous vs. fortunateFortuitous = accidental or happening by chance. Fortunate = having good look or bringing something good.
- Forty vs. fourtyIn modern English, fourty is considered a misspelling.
- Forty winks
- Fosbury flop
- Foul vs. fowlFowl = chickens and game birds. Foul = (1) offensive, (2) to make dirty, (3) a violation of rules of play.
- Fount of knowledge or wisdom vs font of knowledge or wisdom
- Four-flusher
- Fox guarding the hen house
- Fracking
- Fractious vs fracas
- Fractious vs fraction
- Frankenstein's monsterFrankenstein = the creator. Frankenstein's monster = the creation.
- Frankincense and myrrh
- Fraud or defraud
- FraughtFraught with means full of. Fraught alone means (1) distressed or (2) producing anxiety.
- Free rein vs. free reignFree rein is the standard spelling.
- Freegan and freeganism
- Freeze vs frieze
- Frenemy
- Freshwater vs. fresh waterThe one-word form is an adjective. When it functions as a noun, it's a two-word phrase.
- Freudian slip
- Friable vs fryable
- Friar vs fryer
- Friendsgiving
- Fringe benefit
- Fritter awayTo fritter away is to squander something little by little. Fritter here is sometimes rendered frit, a word that traditionally has an entirely different meaning.
- Frivolity vs. frivolousnessFrivolousness = the quality of being unworthy of serious attention. Frivolity = (1) silliness, (2) lightheartedness, or (3) a frivolous thing.
- Frog in one’s throat
- Frogmarch or frog-march
- From pillar to post
- From soup to nuts
- From the get-go
- Fuddle
- Fueled/fueling vs. fuelled/fuellingfueled and fueling in American English; fuelled and fuelling everywhere else.
- Fulfil vs. fulfillFulfill in the U.S. and sometimes in Canada; fulfil everywhere else.
- Full of beans
- Full stop vs. periodFor the punctuation mark at the end of declarative sentences, period is the preferred term in American English, and full stop is the usual term elsewhere.
- Full-fledged, fully fledged= newly fully developed. Full-fledged is more common in North America; fully fledged is more common everywhere else.
- Fulminate vs culminate
- FulsomeTraditionally, it means excessively flattering or offensive. It now often means abundant, without negative connotations.
- FunerealFunereal = gloomy or like a funeral. Funeral doubles as an adjective for describing things that directly have to do with funerals.
- Fungi vs. fungusesThe Latin plural is preferred.
- Funk
- Funner, funnestThe only thing wrong with them is that some people think they're wrong. But fun is an adjective in today's English, so there is nothing inherently wrong with these forms.
- Fur vs fir
- Furlough
- Furor vs. furoreOutside North America, the word is spelled furore and means a public uproar. In North America the word is spelled furor and bears the additional senses (1) violent anger, and (2) a state of intense excitement.
- Fusillade vs fuselage
- Fusion vs confusion
- Futz vs putz
- Get a foot in the door
- Glass ceiling
- In fine fettle
- In point of fact or in fact or as a matter of fact
- John Doe, Joe Bloggs and Fred Nerk
- Matter of fact vs fact of the matter
- Murphy's Law, Sod's Law and Finagle's Law
- On fleek
- Parade float
- Proverbial vs figurative
- Start from scratch
- Take at face value
- The face that launched a thousand ships
- Thong or flip-flop