Which to use
“fell” and “fill” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,483
- “fell” frequency rank
- #2,297
- “fill” frequency rank
- 3780
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fell | fill |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make something fall; especially to chop down a tree. | To make full |
Where the eye mixes fell and fill
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fell vs fill
A purely visual mix-up. fell (/fɛl/) and fill (/fɪl/) 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 a single letter - e in “fell” becomes i in “fill”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3780, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fell is recorded at frequency rank #1,483, classified as averb, pronounced /fɛl/. fill is at rank #2,297, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɪl/.
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 3780, this pair ranks #521,019 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fell vs fill
Shared letters: fl. Private to "fell": e. Private to "fill": i.
"fell" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "fill" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fell" for "fill" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fell" or "fill"?
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 "fell" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fill" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #521,019 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fell" and "fill" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fell vs Fenn". 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 #521,019 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.