Which to use
“drilled” is a verb and “drills” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,747
- “drilled” frequency rank
- #13,137
- “drills” frequency rank
- 27884
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | drilled | drills |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of drill | plural of drill |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set drilled and drills apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: drilled is /dɹɪld/ while drills is /dɹɪlz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27884, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
drilled is recorded at frequency rank #14,747, classified as averb, pronounced /dɹɪld/. drills is at rank #13,137, tagged as anoun, pronounced /dɹɪlz/.
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 27884, this pair ranks #375,352 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of drilled vs drills
Shared letters: dilr. Private to "drilled": e. Private to "drills": s.
"drilled" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC · "drills" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "drilled" and "drills" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "drilled" or "drills"?
Remembering drilled vs drills
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “drilled”; for a noun, it's “drills”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “drilled” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable