Which to use
“fears” and “fleas” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,416
- “fears” frequency rank
- #25,061
- “fleas” frequency rank
- 30477
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fears | fleas |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of fear | plural of flea |
Where the eye mixes fears and fleas
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between fears and fleas
A purely visual mix-up. fears (/fɪəz/) and fleas (/ˈfliːz/) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fears is recorded at frequency rank #5,416, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɪəz/. fleas is at rank #25,061, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfliːz/.
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 30477, this pair ranks #354,236 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fears vs fleas
Shared letters: aefs. Private to "fears": r. Private to "fleas": l.
"fears" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "fleas" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fears" for "fleas" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fears" or "fleas"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fears" and "fleas" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fears" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fleas" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #354,236 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fears" and "fleas" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fleas vs fleck". 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 #354,236 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.