Which to use
“pulley” and “pulleys” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,139
- “pulley” frequency rank
- #46,712
- “pulleys” frequency rank
- 78851
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pulley | pulleys |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | One of the simple machines; a sheave, a wheel with a grooved rim, in which a pulled rope or chain lifts an object (more useful when two or more pulleys are used together, as in a block and tackle arrangement, such that a small force moving through a greater distance can exert a larger force through a smaller distance). | plural of pulley |
Where the eye mixes pulley and pulleys
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pulley runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against pulleys's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pulley vs pulleys
A purely visual mix-up. pulley (/ˈpʊli/) and pulleys (/ˈpʊliz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “pulley” sits inside “pulleys”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pulley is recorded at frequency rank #32,139, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpʊli/. pulleys is at rank #46,712, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈpʊliz/.
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 78851, this pair ranks #23,613 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pulley vs pulleys
Shared letters: elpuy. Private to "pulley": -. Private to "pulleys": s.
"pulley" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "pulleys" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pulley" and "pulleys" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "pulley" or "pulleys" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pulley" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pulleys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,613 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pulley" and "pulleys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puller vs pulleys". 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 #23,613 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.