Which to use
“tine” and “tips” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,530
- “tine” frequency rank
- #2,601
- “tips” frequency rank
- 47131
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tine | tips |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A spike or point on an implement or tool, especially a prong of a fork or a tooth of a comb. | plural of tip |
Where the eye mixes tine and tips
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: tine vs tips
A purely visual mix-up. tine (/taɪn/) and tips (/tɪps/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47131, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tine is recorded at frequency rank #44,530, classified as anoun, pronounced /taɪn/. tips is at rank #2,601, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɪps/.
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 47131, this pair ranks #205,286 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tine vs tips
Shared letters: it. Private to "tine": en. Private to "tips": ps.
"tine" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "tips" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tine" for "tips" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tine" vs "tips" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "tine" and "tips" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tips" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #205,286 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tine" and "tips" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tine vs tobe". 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 #205,286 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.