Which to use
“further” is a verb and “furthest” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #490
- “further” frequency rank
- #23,278
- “furthest” frequency rank
- 23768
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | further | furthest |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To help forward; to assist. | superlative form of far: most far |
Where the eye mixes further and furthest
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. further runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against furthest's 8 (CVCCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: further vs furthest
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: further is /ˈfɜː.ðə/ while furthest is /ˈfɜː(ɹ)ðɪst/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23768, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
further is recorded at frequency rank #490, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfɜː.ðə/. furthest is at rank #23,278, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈfɜː(ɹ)ðɪst/.
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 23768, this pair ranks #406,924 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of further vs furthest
Shared letters: efhrtu. Private to "further": -. Private to "furthest": s.
"further" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC · "furthest" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "further" for "furthest" ever safe?
Which is more common, "further" or "furthest"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "further" and "furthest" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "further" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "furthest" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,924 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "further" and "furthest" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "farthest vs furthest". 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 #406,924 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.