Which to use
“figment” and “filament” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,745
- “figment” frequency rank
- #25,761
- “filament” frequency rank
- 74506
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | figment | filament |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A fabrication, fantasy, invention; something fictitious. | A fine thread or wire. |
Where the eye mixes figment and filament
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. figment runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against filament's 8 (CVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: figment vs filament
A purely visual mix-up. figment (/ˈfɪɡ.mənt/) and filament (/ˈfɪləmənt/) 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 74506, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
figment is recorded at frequency rank #48,745, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪɡ.mənt/. filament is at rank #25,761, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪləmənt/.
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 74506, this pair ranks #36,143 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of figment vs filament
Shared letters: efimnt. Private to "figment": g. Private to "filament": al.
"figment" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "filament" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "figment" and "filament" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "figment" or "filament"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "figment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "filament" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #36,143 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "figment" and "filament" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ferment vs figment". 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 #36,143 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.