Which to use
“fairly” is an adverb and “filly” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,994
- “fairly” frequency rank
- #23,832
- “filly” frequency rank
- 26826
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fairly | filly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In a fair manner; fair; not biased or skewed or favouring a certain party | A young female horse. |
Where the eye mixes fairly and filly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fairly runs 6 letters (CVVCCV) against filly's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fairly and filly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fairly is /ˈfɛə(ɹ).li/ while filly is /ˈfɪli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26826, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fairly is recorded at frequency rank #2,994, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈfɛə(ɹ).li/. filly is at rank #23,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪli/.
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 26826, this pair ranks #383,751 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fairly vs filly
Shared letters: fily. Private to "fairly": ar. Private to "filly": -.
"fairly" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "filly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fairly" and "filly" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fairly" vs "filly" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fairly" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "filly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,751 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fairly" and "filly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feely vs filly". 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 #383,751 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.