Sulfur or sulphur?
sulfur is a noun meaning “A chemical element with atomic number 16, having a bright yellow color and…”; sulphur is a noun meaning “Alternative spelling of sulfur”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) sulfur is about 1.8 times as common as sulphur.
What is the difference between sulfur and sulphur?
| sulfur | sulphur | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, adjective, verb | noun, verb |
| Meaning | A chemical element with atomic number 16, having a bright yellow color and characteristic smell, used commercially in a variety of products such as… The element symbolically associated with hellfire or damnation, or in alchemy, the fiery principle present in all things Of a yellowish green colour, like that of sulfur | CommonwealthAlternative spelling of sulfur |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | sulfurs | sulphurs |
| Pronunciation | /ˈsʌl.fə/ /ˈsʊl.fə/ /ˈsʌl.fəɹ/ | not recorded |
| In writing | 2.7 times per million words | 1.5 times per million words |
Sources: sulfur and sulphur in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of sulfur and sulphur
sulfur
- 1
A chemical element with atomic number 16, having a bright yellow color and characteristic smell, used commercially in a variety of products such as insecticides, black powder, and matchsticks
- 2
Of a yellowish green colour, like that of sulfur
- 3
To treat with sulfur, or a sulfur compound, especially to preserve or to counter agricultural pests
- 4
The element symbolically associated with hellfire or damnation, or in alchemy, the fiery principle present in all things
- 5
Having a characteristic sulfur-like smell, reminiscent of rotten eggs
- 6
A yellowish green colour, like that of sulfur
- 7
Any of various pierid butterflies of the subfamily Coliadinae, especially the sulfur-coloured species
sulphur
- 1
CommonwealthAlternative spelling of sulfur
- 2
CommonwealthAlternative spelling of sulfur
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, sulfur or sulphur?
sulfur appears 2.7 times per million words; sulphur 1.5 times per million words.
sulfur 2.7 times per million wordssulphur 1.5 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search sulfur vs sulphur?
“sulfur vs sulphur” is searched about 1,900 times a month on Google and 40 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“sulphur vs sulfur”, “sulfur or sulphur”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.