Which to use
“cull” and “culled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,384
- “cull” frequency rank
- #34,848
- “culled” frequency rank
- 65232
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cull | culled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To pick or take someone or something (from a larger group). | simple past and past participle of cull |
Where the eye mixes cull and culled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cull and culled
A purely visual mix-up. cull (/kʌl/) and culled (/kʌld/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “cull” sits inside “culled”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65232, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cull is recorded at frequency rank #30,384, classified as averb, pronounced /kʌl/. culled is at rank #34,848, tagged as averb, pronounced /kʌld/.
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 65232, this pair ranks #73,810 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cull vs culled
Shared letters: clu. Private to "cull": -. Private to "culled": de.
"cull" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "culled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cull" for "culled" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cull" vs "culled" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "cull" and "culled" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "cull" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "culled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #73,810 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cull" and "culled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "celled vs culled". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #73,810 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.