Which to use
“tilly” is a noun and “Tully” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,380
- “tilly” frequency rank
- #26,640
- “Tully” frequency rank
- 58020
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tilly | Tully |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An extra product given to a customer at no additional charge; a lagniappe. | A surname. |
Where the eye mixes tilly and Tully
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tilly and Tully
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tilly is /ˈtɪli/ while Tully is /ˈtʌliː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “tilly” becomes u in “Tully”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tilly is recorded at frequency rank #31,380, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈtɪli/. Tully is at rank #26,640, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈtʌliː/.
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 58020, this pair ranks #115,385 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tilly vs Tully
Shared letters: lty. Private to "tilly": i. Private to "Tully": u.
"tilly" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "Tully" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tilly" and "Tully" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "tilly" or "Tully" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tilly" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Tully" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #115,385 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tilly" and "Tully" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tilly vs tulle". 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 #115,385 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.