fartsvsfirstsConfusable pair

Which to use

“farts” and “firsts” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#22,669
“farts” frequency rank
#30,422
“firsts” frequency rank
53091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature farts firsts
Definition plural of fart plural of first

Where the eye mixes farts and firsts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
farts
6 ch
firsts

Look-alike desk: farts vs firsts

A purely visual mix-up. farts (/fɑːɹts/) and firsts (/fɜːsts/) 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 53091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

farts is recorded at frequency rank #22,669, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɑːɹts/. firsts is at rank #30,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɜːsts/.

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 53091, this pair ranks #151,744 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of farts vs firsts

Shared letters: frst. Private to "farts": a. Private to "firsts": i.

"farts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "firsts" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fartsafrts · farrts · farst · fartss · fartts · fatrs · ffarts · frats
  • firstsffirsts · firrsts · firssts · firstss · firstts · firtss · fisrts · frists

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "farts" and "firsts" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/fɑːɹts/ versus /fɜːsts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "farts" or "firsts" show up more?
"farts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,669 in our English list, against #30,422 for "firsts". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "farts" and "firsts" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "farts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "firsts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #151,744 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "farts" and "firsts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "firsts vs frets". 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 #151,744 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list