floodvsflopWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“flood” and “flop” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#36,396
“flood” frequency rank
#19,838
“flop” frequency rank
56234
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flood flop
Definition Envoi massif de messages sur une messagerie instantanée. Échec, en particulier d’œuvre artistique ou d’entreprise commerciale.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set flood and flop apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
flood
4 ch
flop

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. flood (\flud\) and flop (\flɔp\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56234, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flood is recorded at frequency rank #36,396, classified as anoun, pronounced \flud\. flop is at rank #19,838, tagged as anoun, pronounced \flɔp\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 56234, this pair ranks #122,383 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of flood vs flop

Shared letters: flo. Private to "flood": d. Private to "flop": p.

"flood" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "flop" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • floodfflood · fllood · flod · flodo · floodd · folod · lfood
  • flopfflop · fllop · flopp · flpo · folp · lfop

Frequency comparison

flood#36,396
flop#19,838

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flood" and "flop" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\flud\ versus \flɔp\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "flood" or "flop"?
"flop" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,838 in our French list, against #36,396 for "flood". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering flood vs flop

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “flood” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list