wilful vs will, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“wilful” is an adjective and “will” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,689
“wilful” frequency rank: #40
“will” frequency rank: 38729
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	wilful	will
Definition	Intentional; deliberate.	Used to express the future tense, sometimes with an implication of volition or determination when used in the first person. Compare shall.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch

wilful

4 ch

will

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: wilful is /ˈwɪlfʊl/ while will is /wɪl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38729, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wilful is recorded at frequency rank #38,689, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈwɪlfʊl/. will is at rank #40, tagged as averb, pronounced /wɪl/.

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 38729, this pair ranks #283,315 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of wilful vs will

Shared letters: ilw. Private to "wilful": fu. Private to "will": -.

"wilful" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "will" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

wilful ← iwlful · wiflul · wilfful · wilflu · wilfull · wilufl · wliful · wwilful
will ← iwll · wil · wlil · wwill

Frequency comparison

wilful#38,689

will#40

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wilful" and "will" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "wilful" is an adjective and "will" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "wilful" or "will"?

"will" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40 in our English list, against #38,689 for "wilful". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering wilful vs will

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “wilful”; for a verb, it's “will”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wilful” entry
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