Which to use
“fast” and “first” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #767
- “fast” frequency rank
- #81
- “first” frequency rank
- 848
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fast | first |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Firmly or securely fixed in place; stable. | Preceding all others of a series or kind; the ordinal of one; earliest. |
Where the eye mixes fast and first
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. fast (/fɑːst/) and first (/fɜːst/) 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 848, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fast is recorded at frequency rank #767, classified as anadj, pronounced /fɑːst/. first is at rank #81, tagged as anadj, pronounced /fɜːst/.
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 848, this pair ranks #528,643 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fast vs first
Shared letters: fst. Private to "fast": a. Private to "first": ir.
"fast" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "first" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC