Which to use
“glad” is an adjective and “glee” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,342
- “glad” frequency rank
- #15,177
- “glee” frequency rank
- 16519
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | glad | glee |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pleased; happy; gratified. | Joy; happiness; great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune. |
Where the eye mixes glad and glee
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: glad is /ɡlæd/ while glee is /ɡliː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16519, 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/. glee is at rank #15,177, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡliː/.
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 16519, this pair ranks #457,252 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of glad vs glee
Shared letters: gl. Private to "glad": ad. Private to "glee": e.
"glad" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "glee" · 4 letters · shape CCVV