flipvsflipsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#5,129
“flip” frequency rank
#19,838
“flips” frequency rank
24967
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flip flips
Definition A maneuver which rotates an object end over end. plural of flip

Where the eye mixes flip and flips

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

4 ch
flip
5 ch
flips

Visual trap between flip and flips

A purely visual mix-up. flip (/flɪp/) and flips (/flɪps/) 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) - “flip” sits inside “flips”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flip is recorded at frequency rank #5,129, classified as anoun, pronounced /flɪp/. flips is at rank #19,838, tagged as anoun, pronounced /flɪps/.

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 24967, this pair ranks #397,934 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of flip vs flips

Shared letters: filp. Private to "flip": -. Private to "flips": s.

"flip" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "flips" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flipfflip · filp · flipp · fllip · flpi · lfip
  • flipsfflips · filps · flipps · flipss · flisp · fllips · flpis · lfips

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flip" and "flips" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/flɪp/ versus /flɪps/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "flip" or "flips" show up more?
"flip" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,129 in our English list, against #19,838 for "flips". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "flip" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flips" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #397,934 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flip" and "flips" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "FIS vs flips". 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 #397,934 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