Which to use
“filthy” and “fishy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,608
- “filthy” frequency rank
- #20,116
- “fishy” frequency rank
- 29724
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | filthy | fishy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Covered with filth; very dirty. | Of, from, or similar to fish. |
Where the eye mixes filthy and fishy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses filthy with fishy
A purely visual mix-up. filthy (/ˈfɪlθi/) and fishy (/ˈfɪʃi/) 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 29724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
filthy is recorded at frequency rank #9,608, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɪlθi/. fishy is at rank #20,116, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɪʃi/.
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 29724, this pair ranks #360,583 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of filthy vs fishy
Shared letters: fhiy. Private to "filthy": lt. Private to "fishy": s.
"filthy" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "fishy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "filthy" and "fishy" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "filthy" vs "fishy" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "filthy" and "fishy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "filthy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fishy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #360,583 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "filthy" and "fishy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "FIS vs fishy". 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 #360,583 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.