Which to use
“flees” is a verb and “flutes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,653
- “flees” frequency rank
- #36,145
- “flutes” frequency rank
- 69798
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flees | flutes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of flee | plural of flute |
Where the eye mixes flees and flutes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. flees runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against flutes's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between flees and flutes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flees is /ˈfliːz/ while flutes is /fluːts/. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69798, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flees is recorded at frequency rank #33,653, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈfliːz/. flutes is at rank #36,145, tagged as anoun, pronounced /fluːts/.
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 69798, this pair ranks #53,099 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of flees vs flutes
Shared letters: efls. Private to "flees": -. Private to "flutes": tu.
"flees" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "flutes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "flees" and "flutes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "flees" or "flutes" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "flees" and "flutes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "flees" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flutes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,099 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flees" and "flutes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fluted vs flutes". 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 #53,099 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.