Which to use
“slips” and “swipes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,861
- “slips” frequency rank
- #43,948
- “swipes” frequency rank
- 56809
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | slips | swipes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of slip | third-person singular simple present indicative of swipe |
Where the eye mixes slips and swipes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. slips runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against swipes's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses slips with swipes
A purely visual mix-up. slips (/slɪps/) and swipes (/swaɪps/) 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 56809, 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/. swipes is at rank #43,948, tagged as averb, pronounced /swaɪps/.
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 56809, this pair ranks #123,590 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of slips vs swipes
Shared letters: ips. Private to "slips": l. Private to "swipes": ew.
"slips" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "swipes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "slips" and "swipes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "slips" or "swipes" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "slips" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "swipes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #123,590 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "slips" and "swipes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "snipes vs swipes". 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 #123,590 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.