Which to use
“slips” is a verb and “suits” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,861
- “slips” frequency rank
- #4,719
- “suits” frequency rank
- 17580
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | slips | suits |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of slip | plural of suit |
Where the eye mixes slips and suits
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between slips and suits
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: slips is /slɪps/ while suits is /s(j)uːts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17580, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
slips is recorded at frequency rank #12,861, classified as averb, pronounced /slɪps/. suits is at rank #4,719, tagged as anoun, pronounced /s(j)uːts/.
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 17580, this pair ranks #450,467 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of slips vs suits
Shared letters: is. Private to "slips": lp. Private to "suits": tu.
"slips" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "suits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "slips" and "suits" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "slips" or "suits" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "slips" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #450,467 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "slips" and "suits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "SIDS vs slips". 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 #450,467 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.