gulvsgullWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“gul” and “gull” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#34,905
“gul” frequency rank
#28,938
“gull” frequency rank
63843
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gul gull
Definition Any medallionlike design on a Central or West Asian rug. A seabird of the genus Larus or of the subfamily Larinae.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gul and gull apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
gul
4 ch
gull

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

gul and gull are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “gul” sits inside “gull”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63843, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gul is recorded at frequency rank #34,905, classified as anoun. gull is at rank #28,938, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡʌl/.

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 63843, this pair ranks #80,796 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gul vs gull

Shared letters: glu. Private to "gul": -. Private to "gull": -.

"gul" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "gull" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gullggull · glul · ugll

Frequency comparison

gul#34,905
gull#28,938

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gul" and "gull" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “gul” sits inside “gull”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "gul" or "gull"?
"gull" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,938 in our English list, against #34,905 for "gul". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering gul vs gull

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gul” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list