yokevsyukWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: yoke is a noun, yuk is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“yoke” is a noun and “yuk” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#25,982
“yoke” frequency rank
#41,484
“yuk” frequency rank
67466
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature yoke yuk
Definition Senses relating to a frame around the neck. An exuberant laugh.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set yoke and yuk apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
yoke
3 ch
yuk

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: yoke is /jəʊk/ while yuk is /jʌk/. 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 (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67466, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

yoke is recorded at frequency rank #25,982, classified as anoun, pronounced /jəʊk/. yuk is at rank #41,484, tagged as anintj, pronounced /jʌk/.

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 67466, this pair ranks #63,240 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of yoke vs yuk

Shared letters: ky. Private to "yoke": eo. Private to "yuk": u.

"yoke" · 4 letters · shape VVCV  ·  "yuk" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • yokeoyke · ykoe · yoek · yokke · yyoke

Frequency comparison

yoke#25,982
yuk#41,484

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "yoke" and "yuk" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "yoke" is a noun and "yuk" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "yoke" or "yuk"?
"yoke" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,982 in our English list, against #41,484 for "yuk". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering yoke vs yuk

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “yoke”; for an intj, it's “yuk”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “yoke” 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