Which to use
“fess” and “flees” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,640
- “fess” frequency rank
- #33,653
- “flees” frequency rank
- 77293
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fess | flees |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To confess; to admit. | third-person singular simple present indicative of flee |
Where the eye mixes fess and flees
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fess runs 4 letters (CVCC) against flees's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fess vs flees
A purely visual mix-up. fess (/fɛs/) and flees (/ˈfliːz/) 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 77293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fess is recorded at frequency rank #43,640, classified as averb, pronounced /fɛs/. flees is at rank #33,653, tagged as averb, 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 77293, this pair ranks #27,688 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fess vs flees
Shared letters: efs. Private to "fess": -. Private to "flees": l.
"fess" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "flees" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fess" for "flees" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fess" vs "flees" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "fess" and "flees" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fess" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flees" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #27,688 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fess" and "flees" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fenn vs fess". 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 #27,688 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.