Which to use
“flies” and “follies” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,142
- “flies” frequency rank
- #32,809
- “follies” frequency rank
- 38951
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flies | follies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of fly | plural of folly |
Letter map: flies vs follies
Shared letters muted; letters that set flies and follies apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. flies runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against follies's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Spelling & dictionary notes on flies vs follies
flies and follies are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38951, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flies is recorded at frequency rank #6,142, classified as anoun, pronounced /flaɪz/. follies is at rank #32,809, tagged as anoun.
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 38951, this pair ranks #281,186 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of flies vs follies
Shared letters: efils. Private to "flies": -. Private to "follies": o.
"flies" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "follies" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "flies" and "follies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "flies" vs "follies" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pair "flies" vs "follies" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "flies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "follies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #281,186 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flies" and "follies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "follies vs forties". 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 #281,186 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.