flockvsflogTell them apart

Quick tell: flock is a noun, flog is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“flock” is a noun and “flog” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,384
“flock” frequency rank
#41,629
“flog” frequency rank
53013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flock flog
Definition A number of birds together in a group, such as those gathered together for the purpose of migration. To whip or scourge as punishment.

Where the eye mixes flock and flog

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
flock
4 ch
flog

Visual trap between flock and flog

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flock is /flɒk/ while flog is /flɒɡ/. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flock is recorded at frequency rank #11,384, classified as anoun, pronounced /flɒk/. flog is at rank #41,629, tagged as averb, pronounced /flɒɡ/.

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 53013, this pair ranks #152,389 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of flock vs flog

Shared letters: flo. Private to "flock": ck. Private to "flog": g.

"flock" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "flog" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flockfflock · flcok · fllock · flocck · flockk · flokc · folck · lfock
  • flogfflog · flgo · fllog · flogg · folg · lfog

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "flock" for "flog" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "flock" is a noun and "flog" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "flock" or "flog" show up more?
"flock" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,384 in our English list, against #41,629 for "flog". 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 "flock" and "flog" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "flock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "flog" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,389 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "flock" and "flog" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "flog 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 #152,389 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