DPS
"dps" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“DPS” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #24,147) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #24,147
- frequency rank, English
- 3,470
- “D” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Initialism of damage per second; a standard way to calculate the damage dealt to other players or creatures in online role-playing games.
Corpus desk
Index EN-dps · DPS · English
DPS · rank #24,147 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #24,147
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-0 0 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 3,470
- PHOTO-FINISH DSM
Nearest frequency peer: DSM (+1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “DPS”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- displeasure
displeasure
75,858 corpus weight
- diss
diss
75,857 corpus weight
- doth
doth
75,856 corpus weight
- DPS
DPS
75,854 corpus weight
- DSM
DSM
75,853 corpus weight
- Dunkirk
Dunkirk
75,851 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “DPS” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | DPS |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #24,147 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “DPS” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for DPS is neighbouring look-alikes ("Dr", "DS", …), not just typos; it is anoun. Frequency #24,147 among 3,470 “D” headwords. 7 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
DPS has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "Dr", "DS", "DT", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct English form is DPS, spelled D-P-S.
Definition
- 1Initialism of damage per second; a standard way to calculate the damage dealt to other players or creatures in online role-playing games.
- 2Initialism of damage per second; a standard way to calculate the damage dealt to other players or creatures in online role-playing games.
- 3Initialism of delivery point sequence.
- 4Initialism of designated premises supervisor.
- 5Initialism of disintegration per second.
- 6Initialism of double page spread.
- 7Initialism of Doege-Potter syndrome.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how DPS appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The phrase, “tank meta”, is one that carries a lot of weight when it comes to MOBAs. These metas are generally characterized by tanky, unkillable behemoths dominating the meta and leaving any character that isn’t focused around raw DPS in the dust.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "DPS", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
What to do next
You've looked up "DPS". Here's where to go from here.
- "DPS" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "Dr". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #24,147 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "D" letter cohort. D–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.