Which to use
“fifty” is a num and “filly” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,376
- “fifty” frequency rank
- #23,832
- “filly” frequency rank
- 28208
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fifty | filly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The cardinal number occurring after forty-nine and before fifty-one. | A young female horse. |
Where the eye mixes fifty and filly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fifty and filly follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: fifty vs filly
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fifty is /ˈfɪfti/ while filly is /ˈfɪli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28208, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fifty is recorded at frequency rank #4,376, classified as anum, pronounced /ˈfɪfti/. filly is at rank #23,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪli/.
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 28208, this pair ranks #372,878 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fifty vs filly
Shared letters: fiy. Private to "fifty": t. Private to "filly": l.
"fifty" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "filly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fifty" for "filly" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fifty" or "filly"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fifty" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "filly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,878 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fifty" and "filly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feely vs filly". 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 #372,878 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.