Which to use
“tiller” and “tilly” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,004
- “tiller” frequency rank
- #31,380
- “tilly” frequency rank
- 62384
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tiller | tilly |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person who tills; a farmer. | An extra product given to a customer at no additional charge; a lagniappe. |
Where the eye mixes tiller and tilly
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tiller runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against tilly's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between tiller and tilly
A purely visual mix-up. tiller (/ˈtɪlə/) and tilly (/ˈtɪli/) 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 62384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tiller is recorded at frequency rank #31,004, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɪlə/. tilly is at rank #31,380, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɪli/.
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 62384, this pair ranks #88,790 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tiller vs tilly
Shared letters: ilt. Private to "tiller": er. Private to "tilly": y.
"tiller" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "tilly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tiller" for "tilly" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tiller" or "tilly"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tiller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tilly" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #88,790 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tiller" and "tilly" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tigger vs tiller". 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 #88,790 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.