Which to use
“thrill” and “thrilled” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,947
- “thrill” frequency rank
- #7,862
- “thrilled” frequency rank
- 18809
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thrill | thrilled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To suddenly excite someone, or to give someone great pleasure; to (figuratively) electrify; to experience such a sensation. | simple past and past participle of thrill |
Where the eye mixes thrill and thrilled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: thrill vs thrilled
A purely visual mix-up. thrill (/θɹɪl/) and thrilled (/θɹɪld/) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “thrill” sits inside “thrilled”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18809, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thrill is recorded at frequency rank #10,947, classified as averb, pronounced /θɹɪl/. thrilled is at rank #7,862, tagged as averb, pronounced /θɹɪld/.
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 18809, this pair ranks #442,414 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of thrill vs thrilled
Shared letters: hilrt. Private to "thrill": -. Private to "thrilled": de.
"thrill" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC · "thrilled" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "thrill" and "thrilled" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "thrill" vs "thrilled" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "thrill" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thrilled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #442,414 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thrill" and "thrilled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thrill vs trill". 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 #442,414 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.