Which to use
“filed” and “fished” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,058
- “filed” frequency rank
- #26,089
- “fished” frequency rank
- 29147
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | filed | fished |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of file | simple past and past participle of fish |
Where the eye mixes filed and fished
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses filed with fished
A purely visual mix-up. filed (/faɪld/) and fished (/fɪʃt/) 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 29147, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
filed is recorded at frequency rank #3,058, classified as averb, pronounced /faɪld/. fished is at rank #26,089, tagged as averb, pronounced /fɪʃt/.
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 29147, this pair ranks #365,429 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of filed vs fished
Shared letters: defi. Private to "filed": l. Private to "fished": hs.
"filed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "fished" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "filed" and "fished" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "filed" or "fished" 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 "filed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fished" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #365,429 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "filed" and "fished" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fished vs fleshed". 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 #365,429 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.