Which to use
“tipsy” is an adjective and “tops” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #34,319
- “tipsy” frequency rank
- #6,425
- “tops” frequency rank
- 40744
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tipsy | tops |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Slightly drunk, fuddled, staggering, foolish as a result of drinking alcoholic beverages. | At the very most; as a maximum. |
Where the eye mixes tipsy and tops
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tipsy runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against tops's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between tipsy and tops
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tipsy is /ˈtɪp.si/ while tops is /tɒps/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40744, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tipsy is recorded at frequency rank #34,319, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈtɪp.si/. tops is at rank #6,425, tagged as anadv, pronounced /tɒps/.
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 40744, this pair ranks #264,776 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tipsy vs tops
Shared letters: pst. Private to "tipsy": iy. Private to "tops": o.
"tipsy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tops" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tipsy" for "tops" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "tipsy" or "tops" 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 "tipsy" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tops" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #264,776 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tipsy" and "tops" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tics vs tipsy". 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 #264,776 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.