yellvsyieldWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“yell” and “yield” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,008
“yell” frequency rank
#5,567
“yield” frequency rank
14575
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature yell yield
Definition To shout; holler; make a loud sound with the voice, especially to express intense emotions such as anger or excitement. To give as a result or outcome; to produce or render.

Where the eye mixes yell and yield

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
yell
5 ch
yield

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. yell (/jɛl/) and yield (/jiːld/) 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 14575, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

yell is recorded at frequency rank #9,008, classified as averb, pronounced /jɛl/. yield is at rank #5,567, tagged as averb, pronounced /jiːld/.

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 14575, this pair ranks #469,195 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of yell vs yield

Shared letters: ely. Private to "yell": -. Private to "yield": di.

"yell" · 4 letters · shape VVCC  ·  "yield" · 5 letters · shape VVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • yelleyll · yel · ylel · yyell
  • yieldiyeld · yeild · yiedl · yieldd · yielld · yiled · yyield

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "yell" and "yield" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/jɛl/ versus /jiːld/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "yell" or "yield"?
"yield" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,567 in our English list, against #9,008 for "yell". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list