tip off
"tip-off" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tip off” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To alert or inform (someone), especially confidentially.
Corpus desk
Index EN-tip-off · tip off · English
tip off · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "T" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
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.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tip off |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “tip off” in English
Rare enough to double-check
tip off is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 5 senses are on record.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for tip off, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is tip off, spelled T-I-P- -O-F-F.
Definition
- 1To alert or inform (someone), especially confidentially.
- 2To put the ball in play by throwing it up between two opponents.
- 3To put the ball in play by throwing it up between two opponents.
- 4To pour out (liquor); to tip the vessel and drink until it is empty.
- 5To use a particular brush technique for producing a flawless surface on a wet coat of paint.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how tip off appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
An anonymous caller tipped off the police that the suspect would be in the area.
Someone must have tipped him off. [A likely explanation for why he has disappeared.]
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.