Which to use
“flood” and “floss” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,018
- “flood” frequency rank
- #22,974
- “floss” frequency rank
- 26992
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flood | floss |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | A thread used to clean the gaps between the teeth. |
Where the eye mixes flood and floss
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. flood (CCVVC) and floss (CCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: flood vs floss
A purely visual mix-up. flood (/flʌd/) and floss (/flɒs/) 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 26992, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flood is recorded at frequency rank #4,018, classified as anoun, pronounced /flʌd/. floss is at rank #22,974, tagged as anoun, pronounced /flɒs/.
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 26992, this pair ranks #382,473 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of flood vs floss
Shared letters: flo. Private to "flood": d. Private to "floss": s.
"flood" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "floss" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "flood" for "floss" ever safe?
Which is more common, "flood" or "floss"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "flood" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "floss" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #382,473 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flood" and "floss" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "floss vs fossa". 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 #382,473 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.