thrillvstrollWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: thrill is a verb, troll is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“thrill” is a verb and “troll” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,947
“thrill” frequency rank
#10,784
“troll” frequency rank
21731
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature thrill troll
Definition To suddenly excite someone, or to give someone great pleasure; to (figuratively) electrify; to experience such a sensation. a giant supernatural being, especially a grotesque humanoid creature living in caves or hills or under bridges.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set thrill and troll apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
thrill
5 ch
troll

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: thrill is /θɹɪl/ while troll is /tɹɒl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21731, 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/. troll is at rank #10,784, tagged as anoun, pronounced /tɹɒl/.

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 21731, this pair ranks #421,767 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of thrill vs troll

Shared letters: lrt. Private to "thrill": hi. Private to "troll": o.

"thrill" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC  ·  "troll" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • thrillhtrill · thhrill · thirll · thril · thrlil · thrrill · trhill · tthrill
  • trollrtoll · torll · trlol · trol · trroll · ttroll

Frequency comparison

thrill#10,947
troll#10,784

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "thrill" and "troll" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "thrill" is a verb and "troll" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "thrill" or "troll"?
"troll" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,784 in our English list, against #10,947 for "thrill". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering thrill vs troll

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “thrill”; for a noun, it's “troll”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “thrill” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list