Good will or goodwill?
good will is a noun meaning “Alternative form of goodwill”; goodwill is a noun meaning “A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something”. good will is written as two words and goodwill as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between good will and goodwill?
| good will | goodwill | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun, verb |
| Meaning | Alternative form of goodwill | A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something The value of a business entity not directly attributable to its tangible assets and liabilities, deriving from factors such as consumer loyalty to the brand To voluntarily provide or cover some or all of the cost of (something) to maintain goodwill |
| Example | none recorded | The company goodwilled the cost of the repairs |
| Forms | none | goodwills |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˌɡʊdˈwɪl/ /ˌɡɵdˈwɪl/ /ˌɡʊdˈwəl/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 4.7 times per million words |
Sources: good will and goodwill in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of good will and goodwill
good will
- 1
Alternative form of goodwill
- 2
datedDated form of goodwill
goodwill
- 1
A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something
- 2
To voluntarily provide or cover some or all of the cost of (something) to maintain goodwill
The company goodwilled the cost of the repairs
- 3
Alternative letter-case form of goodwill (“thrift shop”)
- 4
The value of a business entity not directly attributable to its tangible assets and liabilities, deriving from factors such as consumer loyalty to the brand
- 5
The ability of an individual or business to exert influence within a community, club, market or another type of group, without having to resort to the use of an asset (such as money or property)…
- 6
The willingness of a worker to perform activities not strictly within the scope of the employment contract and not just work to rule
- 7
CanadaUSA thrift shop
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, good will or goodwill?
good will is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; goodwill 4.7 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search good will vs goodwill?
“good will vs goodwill” is searched about 320 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“goodwill vs good will”, “good will or goodwill”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.