fishes vs fixes, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“fishes” and “fixes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,710
“fishes” frequency rank: #13,150
“fixes” frequency rank: 29860
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	fishes	fixes
Definition	plural of fish	plural of fix

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fishes and fixes apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

fishes

5 ch

fixes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fishes (/ˈfɪʃɪz/) and fixes (/ˈfɪksɪz/) 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 29860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fishes is recorded at frequency rank #16,710, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪʃɪz/. fixes is at rank #13,150, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɪksɪz/.

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 29860, this pair ranks #359,420 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fishes vs fixes

Shared letters: efis. Private to "fishes": h. Private to "fixes": x.

"fishes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "fixes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

fishes ← ffishes · fihses · fisehs · fishess · fishhes · fishse · fisshes · fsihes
fixes ← ffixes · fiexs · fixess · fixse · fixxes · fxies · ifxes

Frequency comparison

fishes#16,710

fixes#13,150

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fishes" and "fixes" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/ˈfɪʃɪz/ versus /ˈfɪksɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "fishes" or "fixes"?

"fixes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,150 in our English list, against #16,710 for "fishes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fishes vs fixes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fishes” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable