Which to use
“fives” and “fuses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,060
- “fives” frequency rank
- #26,436
- “fuses” frequency rank
- 51496
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fives | fuses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of five | plural of fuse |
Where the eye mixes fives and fuses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. fives and fuses follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses fives with fuses
A purely visual mix-up. fives (/faɪvz/) and fuses (/ˈfjuːzɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51496, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fives is recorded at frequency rank #25,060, classified as anoun, pronounced /faɪvz/. fuses is at rank #26,436, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfjuːzɪz/.
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 51496, this pair ranks #164,952 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fives vs fuses
Shared letters: efs. Private to "fives": iv. Private to "fuses": u.
"fives" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "fuses" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fives" and "fuses" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fives" vs "fuses" - which ranks higher?
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 "fives" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fuses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,952 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fives" and "fuses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fume vs fuses". 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 #164,952 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.