Which to use
“flushes” and “fuses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,632
- “flushes” frequency rank
- #26,436
- “fuses” frequency rank
- 68068
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flushes | fuses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of flush | plural of fuse |
Where the eye mixes flushes and fuses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. flushes runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against fuses's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses flushes with fuses
A purely visual mix-up. flushes (/ˈflʌʃɪz/) 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 differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flushes is recorded at frequency rank #41,632, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈflʌʃɪz/. 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 68068, this pair ranks #60,564 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of flushes vs fuses
Shared letters: efsu. Private to "flushes": hl. Private to "fuses": -.
"flushes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "fuses" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "flushes" and "fuses" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "flushes" or "fuses"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "flushes" 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 #60,564 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flushes" and "fuses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fleshed vs flushes". 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 #60,564 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.