Which to use
“killer” and “kills” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,176
- “killer” frequency rank
- #4,028
- “kills” frequency rank
- 7204
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | killer | kills |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One who or that which kills. | plural of kill |
Where the eye mixes killer and kills
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses killer with kills
A purely visual mix-up. killer (/ˈkɪlə(ɹ)/) and kills (/kɪlz/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7204, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
killer is recorded at frequency rank #3,176, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɪlə(ɹ)/. kills is at rank #4,028, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɪlz/.
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 7204, this pair ranks #508,118 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of killer vs kills
Shared letters: ikl. Private to "killer": er. Private to "kills": s.
"killer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "kills" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "killer" for "kills" ever safe?
Which is more common, "killer" or "kills"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "killer" and "kills" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "killer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "kills" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #508,118 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "killer" and "kills" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "kidder vs killer". 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 #508,118 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.