Which to use
“fingered” is a verb and “fingers” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,088
- “fingered” frequency rank
- #2,995
- “fingers” frequency rank
- 29083
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fingered | fingers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of finger | plural of finger |
Where the eye mixes fingered and fingers
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. fingered runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against fingers's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses fingered with fingers
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fingered is /ˈfɪŋɡəd/ while fingers is /ˈfɪŋɡɚz/. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29083, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fingered is recorded at frequency rank #26,088, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfɪŋɡəd/. fingers is at rank #2,995, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪŋɡɚz/.
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 29083, this pair ranks #365,967 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fingered vs fingers
Shared letters: efginr. Private to "fingered": d. Private to "fingers": s.
"fingered" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "fingers" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fingered" and "fingers" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "fingered" or "fingers" 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 "fingered" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fingers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #365,967 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fingered" and "fingers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fenders vs fingers". 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 #365,967 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.