Which to use
“fillet” and “fleet” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,047
- “fillet” frequency rank
- #4,084
- “fleet” frequency rank
- 34131
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fillet | fleet |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A headband; a ribbon or other band used to tie the hair up, or keep a headdress in place, or for decoration. | A group of vessels or vehicles. |
Where the eye mixes fillet and fleet
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fillet runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against fleet's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between fillet and fleet
A purely visual mix-up. fillet (/ˈfɪl.ɪt/) and fleet (/fliːt/) 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 34131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fillet is recorded at frequency rank #30,047, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪl.ɪt/. fleet is at rank #4,084, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fliːt/.
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 34131, this pair ranks #323,390 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fillet vs fleet
Shared letters: eflt. Private to "fillet": i. Private to "fleet": -.
"fillet" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fleet" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fillet" for "fleet" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fillet" or "fleet"?
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 "fillet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fleet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #323,390 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fillet" and "fleet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fidget vs fillet". 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 #323,390 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.