fix
/ˈfɪks/
"fix" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“fix” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,826 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #1,826
- frequency rank, English
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To pierce; now generally replaced by transfix.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fix |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈfɪks/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #1,826 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fix” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for fix is 3 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈfɪks/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,826 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 17 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
fix doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "FL", "FM", "fu", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English fixen, borrowed from Old French *fixer (attested only as ficher, fichier; > English fitch), from fix (“fastened; fixed”), from Latin fīxus (“immovable; steady; stable; fixed”), from fīgō (“to drive in; stick; fasten”), from Proto-Indo-Eu… The correct English form is fix, spelled F-I-X.
Definition
- 1To pierce; now generally replaced by transfix.
- 2To pierce; now generally replaced by transfix.
- 3To attach; to affix; to hold in place or at a particular time.
- 4To attach; to affix; to hold in place or at a particular time.
- 5To attach; to affix; to hold in place or at a particular time.
- 6To mend, to repair.
- 7To mend, to repair.
- 8To prepare (food or drink).
- 9To make (a contest, vote, or gamble) unfair; to privilege one contestant or a particular group of contestants, usually before the contest begins; to arrange immunity for defendants by tampering with the justice system via bribery or extortion.
- 10To surgically render an animal, especially a pet, infertile.
- 11To map (a point or subset) to itself.
- 12To take revenge on, to best; to serve justice on an assumed miscreant.
- 13To render (a photographic impression) permanent by treating with such applications as will make it insensitive to the action of light.
- 14To convert into a stable or available form.
- 15To become fixed; to settle or remain permanently; to cease from wandering; to rest.
- 16To become firm, so as to resist volatilization; to cease to flow or be fluid; to congeal; to become hard and malleable, as a metallic substance.
- 17To shoot; to inject a drug.
Etymology
From Middle English fixen, borrowed from Old French *fixer (attested only as ficher, fichier; > English fitch), from fix (“fastened; fixed”), from Latin fīxus (“immovable; steady; stable; fixed”), from fīgō (“to drive in; stick; fasten”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to jab; stick; set”). Related to dig.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "fix"?
What does "fix" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "fix"?
How do you pronounce "fix"?
What is the origin of the word "fix"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “fix”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is F-I-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈfɪks/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “FL” - see the side-by-side comparison. fix vs FL
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.