Which to use
“gully” and “gulp” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,079
- “gully” frequency rank
- #31,584
- “gulp” frequency rank
- 56663
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gully | gulp |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A trench, ravine or narrow channel which was worn by water flow, especially on a hillside. | The usual amount swallowed. |
Where the eye mixes gully and gulp
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses gully with gulp
A purely visual mix-up. gully (/ˈɡʌli/) and gulp (/ɡʌlp/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56663, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gully is recorded at frequency rank #25,079, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡʌli/. gulp is at rank #31,584, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡʌlp/.
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 56663, this pair ranks #124,613 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of gully vs gulp
Shared letters: glu. Private to "gully": y. Private to "gulp": p.
"gully" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "gulp" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gully" and "gulp" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "gully" or "gulp"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "gully" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gulp" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #124,613 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gully" and "gulp" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "goop vs gulp". 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 #124,613 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.