Which to use
“hula” and “hulls” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,583
- “hula” frequency rank
- #33,275
- “hulls” frequency rank
- 61858
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hula | hulls |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A form of chant and dance, which was developed in the Hawaiian Islands by the Polynesians who originally settled there. | plural of hull |
Where the eye mixes hula and hulls
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. hula runs 4 letters (CVCV) against hulls's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between hula and hulls
A purely visual mix-up. hula (/ˈhuːlə/) and hulls (/hʌlz/) 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 61858, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hula is recorded at frequency rank #28,583, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈhuːlə/. hulls is at rank #33,275, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hʌlz/.
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 61858, this pair ranks #91,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of hula vs hulls
Shared letters: hlu. Private to "hula": a. Private to "hulls": s.
"hula" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "hulls" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "hula" for "hulls" ever safe?
Frequency check: "hula" vs "hulls" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "hula" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hulls" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #91,809 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hula" and "hulls" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hulls vs humps". 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 #91,809 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.