Which to use
“flock” and “flood” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,384
- “flock” frequency rank
- #4,018
- “flood” frequency rank
- 15402
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flock | flood |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A number of birds together in a group, such as those gathered together for the purpose of migration. | An overflow of a large amount of water (usually disastrous) from a lake or other body of water due to excessive rainfall or other input of water. |
Where the eye mixes flock and flood
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses flock with flood
A purely visual mix-up. flock (/flɒk/) and flood (/flʌd/) 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 15402, 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/. flood is at rank #4,018, tagged as anoun, pronounced /flʌd/.
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 15402, this pair ranks #464,184 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of flock vs flood
Shared letters: flo. Private to "flock": ck. Private to "flood": d.
"flock" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "flood" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "flock" for "flood" ever safe?
Which is more common, "flock" or "flood"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "flock" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flood" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #464,184 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flock" and "flood" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fleck vs flock". 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 #464,184 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.