tops
/tɒps/
"tops" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tops” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #6,425 in English word frequency and used as an adverb.
- #6,425
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - At the very most; as a maximum.
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 | tops |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adverb |
| IPA | /tɒps/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #6,425 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tops” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tops is 4 letters long, classified as an adverb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /tɒps/. Corpus data places it at rank #6,425 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "At the very most; as a maximum.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for tops, with forms such as "otps", "topps", and "topss". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "TS", "tp", "toy", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Likely top + -s (diminutive). The correct English form is tops, spelled T-O-P-S.
Definition
- 1At the very most; as a maximum.
Etymology
Likely top + -s (diminutive).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: otps,topps,topss,tosp,tpos,ttops
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tops - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “tops”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-O-P-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /tɒps/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “TS” - see the side-by-side comparison. tops vs TS
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.