Which to use
“fleas” is a noun and “flees” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,061
- “fleas” frequency rank
- #33,653
- “flees” frequency rank
- 58714
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fleas | flees |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of flea | third-person singular simple present indicative of flee |
Same sound, different letters: fleas vs flees
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Homophone desk: fleas vs flees
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: fleas and flees carry the same recorded pronunciation, /ˈfliːz/. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - a in “fleas” becomes e in “flees”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58714, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fleas is recorded at frequency rank #25,061, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfliːz/. flees is at rank #33,653, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈfliːz/.
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 58714, this pair ranks #110,793 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fleas vs flees
Shared letters: efls. Private to "fleas": a. Private to "flees": -.
"fleas" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "flees" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fleas" and "flees" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fleas" or "flees"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "fleas" / "flees". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "fleas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flees" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #110,793 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fleas" and "flees" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fleck vs flees". 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 #110,793 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.