Which to use
“growl” and “growls” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,179
- “growl” frequency rank
- #40,270
- “growls” frequency rank
- 64449
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | growl | growls |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A deep, rumbling, threatening sound made in the throat by an animal. | plural of growl |
Where the eye mixes growl and growls
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. growl runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against growls's 6 (CCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses growl with growls
A purely visual mix-up. growl (/ɡɹaʊl/) and growls (/ɡɹaʊlz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “growl” sits inside “growls”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64449, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
growl is recorded at frequency rank #24,179, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹaʊl/. growls is at rank #40,270, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹaʊlz/.
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 64449, this pair ranks #77,653 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of growl vs growls
Shared letters: glorw. Private to "growl": -. Private to "growls": s.
"growl" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "growls" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "growl" and "growls" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "growl" vs "growls" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "growl" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "growls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #77,653 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "growl" and "growls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "growled vs growls". 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 #77,653 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.