fleevsflopWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“flee” and “flop” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,469
“flee” frequency rank
#13,720
“flop” frequency rank
23189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flee flop
Definition To run away; to escape. To fall heavily due to lack of energy.

Where the eye mixes flee and flop

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
flee
4 ch
flop

Visual trap between flee and flop

A purely visual mix-up. flee (/fliː/) and flop (/flɒp/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flee is recorded at frequency rank #9,469, classified as averb, pronounced /fliː/. flop is at rank #13,720, tagged as averb, pronounced /flɒp/.

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 23189, this pair ranks #411,119 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of flee vs flop

Shared letters: fl. Private to "flee": e. Private to "flop": op.

"flee" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "flop" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fleefflee · fle · fllee · lfee
  • flopfflop · fllop · flopp · flpo · folp · lfop

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flee" and "flop" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/fliː/ versus /flɒp/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "flee" or "flop"?
"flee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,469 in our English list, against #13,720 for "flop". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "flee" and "flop" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "flee" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flop" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #411,119 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flee" and "flop" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flop vs foh". 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 #411,119 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list