Which to use
“figure” and “fissure” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #904
- “figure” frequency rank
- #36,143
- “fissure” frequency rank
- 37047
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | figure | fissure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A drawing or diagram conveying information. | A long, narrow crack or opening made by breaking or splitting, especially in rock or earth. |
Where the eye mixes figure and fissure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. figure runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against fissure's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between figure and fissure
A purely visual mix-up. figure (/ˈfɪɡə/) and fissure (/ˈfɪʃ.ə/) 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 37047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
figure is recorded at frequency rank #904, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪɡə/. fissure is at rank #36,143, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪʃ.ə/.
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 37047, this pair ranks #297,902 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of figure vs fissure
Shared letters: efiru. Private to "figure": g. Private to "fissure": s.
"figure" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "fissure" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "figure" and "fissure" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "figure" or "fissure" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "figure" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fissure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #297,902 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "figure" and "fissure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fissile vs fissure". 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 #297,902 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.