Meaning & use
flyer
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Meanings
nouncountable
A single printed sheet handed out to advertise an event, shop or service.
Grammar: Countable: hand out a flyer, a stack of flyers.
Patterns
- a flyer for something
- hand out flyers
Someone handed me a flyer for the new pizza place.
We posted flyers about the lost dog around the block.
The band printed a hundred flyers for Saturday's show.
nouncountable
A person or thing that flies, such as a pilot, a bird or an airline passenger.
Grammar: Often appears in compounds such as frequent flyer.
Patterns
- a frequent flyer
He is a nervous flyer and always asks for an aisle seat.
The airline rewards each frequent flyer with free upgrades.
The swift is among the fastest flyers in the bird world.
Word forms
| plural | flyers |
|---|
Common combinations
- frequent flyer
- She is a frequent flyer with two airlines.
- distribute flyers
- Volunteers distributed flyers outside the station.
- promotional flyer
- The store sent out a promotional flyer.
- high flyer
- Her classmates saw her as a high flyer.
- flyer campaign
- The charity ran a flyer campaign in town.
Synonyms and how they differ
- leaflet
- Leaflet is the common British word for a small printed handout, and may be folded or contain more text.
- handbill
- Handbill is an older word for a small advertising sheet passed out by hand.
- pamphlet
- A pamphlet is a longer booklet with more information, not a single sheet like a flyer.
- pilot
- Pilot refers to the person controlling an aircraft, while flyer is a looser word for anyone who flies.
Word family
Commonly confused: flyer or flayer?
flyer vs flayer
A flayer is someone who strips skin; it is pronounced much the same but is a rare, unrelated word.
Practice
The bakery gave out ____ announcing its grand opening.
Choose one answer.
Printed handouts that advertise an event are flyers. Flayers strip skin, and the other options are not natural English.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “flyer”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.