topsvstripsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,411
“tops” frequency rank
#49,411
“trips” frequency rank
73822
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tops trips
Definition Pluriel de top. Pluriel de trip.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
tops
5 ch
trips

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tops (\tɔp\) and trips (\tʁip\) 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 73822, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tops is recorded at frequency rank #24,411, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔp\. trips is at rank #49,411, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁip\.

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 73822, this pair ranks #39,160 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tops vs trips

Shared letters: pst. Private to "tops": o. Private to "trips": ir.

"tops" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "trips" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • topsotps · topps · topss · tosp · tpos · ttops
  • tripsrtips · tirps · tripps · tripss · trisp · trpis · trrips · ttrips

Frequency comparison

tops#24,411
trips#49,411

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tops" and "trips" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\tɔp\ versus \tʁip\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tops" or "trips"?
"tops" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,411 in our French list, against #49,411 for "trips". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tops vs trips

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 “tops” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list