Which to use
“finish” and “finishes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,305
- “finish” frequency rank
- #8,287
- “finishes” frequency rank
- 9592
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | finish | finishes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An end; the end of anything. | plural of finish |
Where the eye mixes finish and finishes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. finish runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against finishes's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between finish and finishes
A purely visual mix-up. finish (/ˈfɪnɪʃ/) and finishes (/ˈfɪnɪʃɪz/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “finish” sits inside “finishes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9592, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
finish is recorded at frequency rank #1,305, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪnɪʃ/. finishes is at rank #8,287, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪnɪʃɪz/.
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 9592, this pair ranks #496,606 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of finish vs finishes
Shared letters: fhins. Private to "finish": -. Private to "finishes": e.
"finish" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "finishes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "finish" for "finishes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "finish" or "finishes"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "finish" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "finishes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #496,606 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "finish" and "finishes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "finish vs Finns". 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 #496,606 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.