ips
"ips" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ips” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #20,676) as a symbol. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #20,676
- frequency rank, English
- 2,140
- “I” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Initialism of inch(es) per second.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ips · ips · English
ips · rank #20,676 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #20,676
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,140
- PHOTO-FINISH inversion
Nearest frequency peer: inversion (-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 “ips”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- infidelity
infidelity
79,329 corpus weight
- inventive
inventive
79,327 corpus weight
- inversion
inversion
79,326 corpus weight
- ips
ips
79,325 corpus weight
- Kahn
Kahn
79,324 corpus weight
- Keynes
Keynes
79,323 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “ips” 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 | ips |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Symbol |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #20,676 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ips” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for ips is neighbouring look-alikes ("is", "it", …), not just typos; it is asymbol. Frequency #20,676 among 2,140 “I” headwords. Gloss: "Initialism of inch(es) per second.".
Zero misspellings are on record for ips in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "is", "it", "IV", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct English form is ips, spelled I-P-S.
Definition
- 1Initialism of inch(es) per second.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how ips appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The contest calls for a 15 to 17 minute mixed program (on cassette or 7½ ips quarter-track tape reel) of West End material only, and a five minute radio edit, marked with the DJ's name and address on the box.
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 "ips", 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 "ips". Here's where to go from here.
- "ips" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "is". View pair
- Usage frequency rank #20,676 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "I" letter cohort. I–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.