Which to use
“flush” and “flushes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,610
- “flush” frequency rank
- #41,632
- “flushes” frequency rank
- 51242
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flush | flushes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A group of birds that have suddenly started up from undergrowth, trees, etc. | plural of flush |
Where the eye mixes flush and flushes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: flush vs flushes
A purely visual mix-up. flush (/ˈflʌʃ/) and flushes (/ˈflʌʃɪz/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “flush” sits inside “flushes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51242, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flush is recorded at frequency rank #9,610, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈflʌʃ/. flushes is at rank #41,632, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈflʌʃɪz/.
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 51242, this pair ranks #167,115 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of flush vs flushes
Shared letters: fhlsu. Private to "flush": -. Private to "flushes": e.
"flush" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "flushes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "flush" and "flushes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "flush" or "flushes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "flush" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flushes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #167,115 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flush" and "flushes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fleshed vs flushes". 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 #167,115 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.