Which to use
“figment” and “fragment” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,745
- “figment” frequency rank
- #13,918
- “fragment” frequency rank
- 62663
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | figment | fragment |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A fabrication, fantasy, invention; something fictitious. | A part broken off; a small, detached portion; an imperfect part, either physically or not |
Where the eye mixes figment and fragment
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. figment runs 7 letters (CVCCVCC) against fragment's 8 (CCVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between figment and fragment
A purely visual mix-up. figment (/ˈfɪɡ.mənt/) and fragment (/ˈfɹæɡmənt/) 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 62663, 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/. fragment is at rank #13,918, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɹæɡmənt/.
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 62663, this pair ranks #87,222 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of figment vs fragment
Shared letters: efgmnt. Private to "figment": i. Private to "fragment": ar.
"figment" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC · "fragment" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "figment" and "fragment" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "figment" or "fragment" show up more?
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 "figment" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fragment" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,222 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "figment" and "fragment" 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 #87,222 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.