Which to use
“yolk” is a noun and “yuck” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,706
- “yolk” frequency rank
- #27,037
- “yuck” frequency rank
- 54743
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | yolk | yuck |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The yellow, spherical part of an egg that is surrounded by the white albumen, and serves as nutriment for the growing young. | Uttered to indicate disgust usually toward an objectionable taste or odour. |
Where the eye mixes yolk and yuck
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. yolk and yuck follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses yolk with yuck
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: yolk is /jəʊk/ while yuck is /jʌk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
yolk is recorded at frequency rank #27,706, classified as anoun, pronounced /jəʊk/. yuck is at rank #27,037, 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 54743, this pair ranks #138,773 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of yolk vs yuck
Shared letters: ky. Private to "yolk": lo. Private to "yuck": cu.
"yolk" · 4 letters · shape VVCC · "yuck" · 4 letters · shape VVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "yolk" for "yuck" ever safe?
Frequency check: "yolk" vs "yuck" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "yolk" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "yuck" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #138,773 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "yolk" and "yuck" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "yuck vs yuh". 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 #138,773 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.