Which to use
“glad” is an adjective and “glands” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,342
- “glad” frequency rank
- #17,371
- “glands” frequency rank
- 18713
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | glad | glands |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pleased; happy; gratified. | plural of gland |
Where the eye mixes glad and glands
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. glad runs 4 letters (CCVC) against glands's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: glad vs glands
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: glad is /ɡlæd/ while glands is /ɡlændz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
glad is recorded at frequency rank #1,342, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɡlæd/. glands is at rank #17,371, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡlændz/.
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 18713, this pair ranks #443,037 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of glad vs glands
Shared letters: adgl. Private to "glad": -. Private to "glands": ns.
"glad" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "glands" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "glad" and "glands" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "glad" or "glands"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "glad" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "glands" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #443,037 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "glad" and "glands" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glades vs glands". 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 #443,037 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.