hullsvshusksWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,275
“hulls” frequency rank
#46,530
“husks” frequency rank
79805
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hulls husks
Definition plural of hull plural of husk

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
hulls
5 ch
husks

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. hulls (/hʌlz/) and husks (/hʌsks/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79805, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hulls is recorded at frequency rank #33,275, classified as anoun, pronounced /hʌlz/. husks is at rank #46,530, tagged as anoun, pronounced /hʌsks/.

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 79805, this pair ranks #21,234 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of hulls vs husks

Shared letters: hsu. Private to "hulls": l. Private to "husks": k.

"hulls" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "husks" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hullshhulls · hluls · hullss · huls · hulsl · uhlls
  • huskshhusks · hsuks · hukss · huskks · huskss · hussks · uhsks

Frequency comparison

hulls#33,275
husks#46,530

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hulls" and "husks" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/hʌlz/ versus /hʌsks/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hulls" or "husks"?
"hulls" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,275 in our English list, against #46,530 for "husks". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hulls vs husks

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 “hulls” 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