Which to use
“sully” is a verb and “surly” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,227
- “sully” frequency rank
- #35,102
- “surly” frequency rank
- 60329
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sully | surly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To soil or stain; to dirty. | Irritated, bad-tempered, unfriendly. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sully and surly apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sully is /ˈsʌli/ while surly is /ˈsɜːli/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “sully” becomes r in “surly”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sully is recorded at frequency rank #25,227, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsʌli/. surly is at rank #35,102, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈsɜːli/.
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 60329, this pair ranks #100,775 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sully vs surly
Shared letters: lsuy. Private to "sully": -. Private to "surly": r.
"sully" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "surly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sully" and "surly" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "sully" or "surly"?
Remembering sully vs surly
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “sully”; for an adjective, it's “surly”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sully” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable