Which to use
“gilded” and “grilled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,607
- “gilded” frequency rank
- #11,037
- “grilled” frequency rank
- 30644
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gilded | grilled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of gild | simple past and past participle of grill |
Where the eye mixes gilded and grilled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gilded runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against grilled's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between gilded and grilled
A purely visual mix-up. gilded (/ˈɡɪldɪd/) and grilled (/ɡɹɪld/) 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 30644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gilded is recorded at frequency rank #19,607, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɡɪldɪd/. grilled is at rank #11,037, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɡɹɪld/.
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 30644, this pair ranks #352,847 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gilded vs grilled
Shared letters: degil. Private to "gilded": -. Private to "grilled": r.
"gilded" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "grilled" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gilded" for "grilled" ever safe?
Which is more common, "gilded" or "grilled"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "gilded" and "grilled" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gilded" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grilled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #352,847 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gilded" and "grilled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gilda vs gilded". 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 #352,847 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.