Which to use
“sullen” and “swollen” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,399
- “sullen” frequency rank
- #13,622
- “swollen” frequency rank
- 55021
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sullen | swollen |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a brooding ill temper; sulky. | Protuberant or abnormally distended (as by injury or disease). |
Where the eye mixes sullen and swollen
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sullen runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against swollen's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses sullen with swollen
A purely visual mix-up. sullen (/ˈsʌlən/) and swollen (/ˈswəʊ.lən/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55021, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sullen is recorded at frequency rank #41,399, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈsʌlən/. swollen is at rank #13,622, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈswəʊ.lən/.
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 55021, this pair ranks #136,735 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sullen vs swollen
Shared letters: elns. Private to "sullen": u. Private to "swollen": ow.
"sullen" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "swollen" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sullen" and "swollen" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "sullen" vs "swollen" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sullen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "swollen" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #136,735 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sullen" and "swollen" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "silken vs sullen". 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 #136,735 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.