FLOPSvsflossConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#19,600
“FLOPS” frequency rank
#22,974
“floss” frequency rank
42574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature FLOPS floss
Definition One flop per second. A thread used to clean the gaps between the teeth.

Letter map: FLOPS vs floss

Shared letters muted; letters that set FLOPS and floss apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
FLOPS
5 ch
floss

Spelling & dictionary notes on FLOPS vs floss

FLOPS and floss are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - p in “FLOPS” becomes s in “floss”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

FLOPS is recorded at frequency rank #19,600, classified as anoun. 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 42574, this pair ranks #247,953 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of FLOPS vs floss

Shared letters: flos. Private to "FLOPS": p. Private to "floss": -.

"FLOPS" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "floss" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • FLOPSfflops · fllops · flopps · flopss · flosp · flpos · folps · lfops
  • flossffloss · flloss · flos · flsos · folss · lfoss

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "FLOPS" for "floss" ever safe?
No. They differ by a single letter - p in “FLOPS” becomes s in “floss”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "FLOPS" or "floss"?
"FLOPS" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,600 in our English list, against #22,974 for "floss". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "FLOPS" and "floss".

  • Full dictionary entry for "FLOPS" 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 #247,953 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "FLOPS" 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 #247,953 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