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 eye mixes fishes and fixes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fishes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against fixes's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: fishes vs fixes
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fishes" and "fixes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fishes" vs "fixes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "fishes" and "fixes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "fishes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fixes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #359,420 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fishes" and "fixes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fie vs fixes". 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 #359,420 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.