Which to use
“finely” is an adverb and “fines” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,537
- “finely” frequency rank
- #9,894
- “fines” frequency rank
- 24431
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | finely | fines |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | So as to produce a fine texture; into small, thin, or delicate pieces. | plural of fine |
Where the eye mixes finely and fines
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between finely and fines
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: finely is /ˈfaɪnli/ while fines is /faɪnz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
finely is recorded at frequency rank #14,537, classified as anadv, pronounced /ˈfaɪnli/. fines is at rank #9,894, tagged as anoun, pronounced /faɪnz/.
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 24431, this pair ranks #402,014 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of finely vs fines
Shared letters: efin. Private to "finely": ly. Private to "fines": s.
"finely" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "fines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "finely" for "fines" ever safe?
Which is more common, "finely" or "fines"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "finely" and "fines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "finely" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,014 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "finely" and "fines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feely vs finely". 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 #402,014 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.