# topper

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈtɒpə/ · frequency rank #25,236

## Definitions
1. Something that is on top.
2. A top hat.
3. Something that exceeds those previous in a series, as a joke or prank.
4. A short outer jacket worn by women or children.
5. A soft, relatively thin, piece of padding placed on top of a mattress, or forming the upper layer of a mattress.
6. The student who achieves the highest score in an examination.
7. The head or chief of an organization.
8. A person or tool that cuts off the top of something.
9. One who tops steel ingots.
10. A single-handed dinghy, 11 foot (3.6 metres) in length, with only one sail.
11. A three-square float, or file, used by comb-makers.
12. Tobacco left in the bottom of a pipe bowl; so called from being often taken out and placed on top of the newly filled bowl.
13. A fine or remarkable thing or person.
14. A blow on the head.
15. A small secondary comic strip seen along with a larger Sunday strip, and usually by the same author.
16. A pencil sharpener.
17. Ellipsis of hair topper.

## Etymology
From Middle English toppor, equivalent to top + -er.

## Easily confused with
- **tower** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topper-vs-tower)
- **topple** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topper-vs-topple)
- **trooper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topper-vs-trooper)
- **trapper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/topper-vs-trapper)
- **taper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/taper-vs-topper)
- **toner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/toner-vs-topper)
- **temper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/temper-vs-topper)
- **tapped** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tapped-vs-topper)
- **tamper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tamper-vs-topper)
- **tapper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tapper-vs-topper)
- **tipper** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/tipper-vs-topper)

## Common misspellings (7)
`otpper`, `topepr`, `toper`, `topperr`, `toppre`, `tpoper`, `ttopper`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/topper