Which to use
“cliff” and “cliffs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,037
- “cliff” frequency rank
- #11,852
- “cliffs” frequency rank
- 17889
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cliff | cliffs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A vertical (or nearly vertical) rock face. | plural of cliff |
Where the eye mixes cliff and cliffs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cliff and cliffs
A purely visual mix-up. cliff (/klɪf/) and cliffs (/klɪfs/) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “cliff” sits inside “cliffs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17889, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cliff is recorded at frequency rank #6,037, classified as anoun, pronounced /klɪf/. cliffs is at rank #11,852, tagged as anoun, pronounced /klɪfs/.
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 17889, this pair ranks #448,470 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of cliff vs cliffs
Shared letters: cfil. Private to "cliff": -. Private to "cliffs": s.
"cliff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "cliffs" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cliff" for "cliffs" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cliff" vs "cliffs" - which ranks higher?
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 "cliff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cliffs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #448,470 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cliff" and "cliffs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cliff vs clink". 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 #448,470 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.