Which to use
“facility” and “futility” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,484
- “facility” frequency rank
- #30,433
- “futility” frequency rank
- 32917
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | facility | futility |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The physical means or contrivances to make something (especially a public service) possible; the required equipment, infrastructure, location etc. | The quality of being futile or useless. |
Where the eye mixes facility and futility
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. facility and futility follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between facility and futility
A purely visual mix-up. facility (/fəˈsɪl.ᵻ.ti/) and futility (/fjuːˈtɪlɪti/) 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 32917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
facility is recorded at frequency rank #2,484, classified as anoun, pronounced /fəˈsɪl.ᵻ.ti/. futility is at rank #30,433, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fjuːˈtɪlɪti/.
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 32917, this pair ranks #333,813 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of facility vs futility
Shared letters: filty. Private to "facility": ac. Private to "futility": u.
"facility" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV · "futility" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "facility" and "futility" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "facility" vs "futility" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "facility" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "futility" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #333,813 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "facility" and "futility" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fatality vs futility". 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 #333,813 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.