# sullen vs sully

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### sullen
*adjective · IPA /ˈsʌlən/ · frequency rank #41,399*
Having a brooding ill temper; sulky.

### sully
*verb · IPA /ˈsʌli/ · frequency rank #25,227*
To soil or stain; to dirty.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sullen-vs-sully