featurevsfixtureTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,599
“feature” frequency rank
#11,696
“fixture” frequency rank
13295
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature feature fixture
Definition One's structure or make-up: form, shape, bodily proportions. Something that is fixed in place, especially a permanent appliance or other item of personal property that is considered part of a house and is sold with it; compare fitting, furnishing.

Where the eye mixes feature and fixture

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
feature
7 ch
fixture

Why the eye confuses feature with fixture

A purely visual mix-up. feature (/ˈfiː.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/) and fixture (/ˈfɪks.t͡ʃə/) 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 13295, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

feature is recorded at frequency rank #1,599, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfiː.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/. fixture is at rank #11,696, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪks.t͡ʃə/.

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 13295, this pair ranks #476,651 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of feature vs fixture

Shared letters: efrtu. Private to "feature": a. Private to "fixture": ix.

"feature" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV  ·  "fixture" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • featureefature · faeture · featrue · featture · featuer · featurre · feautre · fetaure
  • fixtureffixture · fitxure · fixtrue · fixtture · fixtuer · fixturre · fixutre · fixxture

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "feature" for "fixture" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈfiː.t͡ʃə(ɹ)/ versus /ˈfɪks.t͡ʃə/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "feature" or "fixture" show up more?
"feature" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,599 in our English list, against #11,696 for "fixture". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "feature" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fixture" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #476,651 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "feature" and "fixture" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fissure vs fixture". 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 #476,651 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