Which to use
“firsts” and “firth” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,422
- “firsts” frequency rank
- #22,972
- “firth” frequency rank
- 53394
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | firsts | firth |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of first | An arm or inlet of the sea; a river estuary. |
Where the eye mixes firsts and firth
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. firsts runs 6 letters (CVCCCC) against firth's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between firsts and firth
A purely visual mix-up. firsts (/fɜːsts/) and firth (/fɜːθ/) 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 53394, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
firsts is recorded at frequency rank #30,422, classified as anoun, pronounced /fɜːsts/. firth is at rank #22,972, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fɜːθ/.
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 53394, this pair ranks #149,345 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of firsts vs firth
Shared letters: firt. Private to "firsts": s. Private to "firth": h.
"firsts" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCC · "firth" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "firsts" for "firth" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "firsts" or "firth" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "firsts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "firth" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #149,345 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "firsts" and "firth" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "firsts vs frets". 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 #149,345 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.