knollvskrillWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,887
“knoll” frequency rank
#45,475
“krill” frequency rank
78362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature knoll krill
Definition A small mound or rounded hill. Any of several small marine crustacean species of plankton in the order Euphausiacea in the class Malacostraca.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
knoll
5 ch
krill

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. knoll (/nəʊl/) and krill (/kɹɪl/) 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 78362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

knoll is recorded at frequency rank #32,887, classified as anoun, pronounced /nəʊl/. krill is at rank #45,475, tagged as anoun, pronounced /kɹɪl/.

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 78362, this pair ranks #24,810 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of knoll vs krill

Shared letters: kl. Private to "knoll": no. Private to "krill": ir.

"knoll" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "krill" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • knollkknoll · knlol · knnoll · knol · konll · nkoll
  • krillkirll · kkrill · kril · krlil · krrill · rkill

Frequency comparison

knoll#32,887
krill#45,475

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "knoll" and "krill" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/nəʊl/ versus /kɹɪl/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "knoll" or "krill"?
"knoll" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,887 in our English list, against #45,475 for "krill". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering knoll vs krill

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 “knoll” 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