gull

/ˈɡʌl/

//ˈɡʌl// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"gull" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“gull” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #28,938) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#28,938
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A seabird of the genus Larus or of the subfamily Larinae.

Corpus desk

Index EN-gull · gull · English

gull · rank #28,938 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #28,938
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH guillotine

Nearest frequency peer: guillotine (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “gull”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “gull” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

gull vs guy
50% similar
gull vs gun
50% similar
gull vs gut
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for gull
PropertyValue
Headwordgull
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈɡʌl/
Letters4
Frequency rank#28,938
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “gull”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).gulllands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “guillotine” (#28,937), “gulls” (#28,939), “Guggenheim” (#28,936). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “gull” is #28,938. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for gull is neighbouring look-alikes ("guy", "gun", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ˈɡʌl/. Frequency #28,938 among 2,313 “G” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for gull, with forms such as "ggull", "glul", and "ugll". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "guy", "gun", "gut", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: Inherited from Middle English gulle, from a Brythonic language (compare Breton gouelan, Welsh gwylan, and Cornish golan), from Proto-Brythonic *gwuɨlann, from Proto-Celtic *weilannā (“seagull”). Cognate with Old Irish foílenn, Scottish Gaelic faoileag. Comp… The correct English form is gull, spelled G-U-L-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A seabird of the genus Larus or of the subfamily Larinae.
  2. 2
    Any of various pierid butterflies of the genus Cepora.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how gull appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The tide was out, and we drew up amid the strong bracing smell of seaweed, with gulls screeching, wheeling around, and gliding on the wind.
  2. Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight—how to get from shore to food and back again.[…]For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English gulle, from a Brythonic language (compare Breton gouelan, Welsh gwylan, and Cornish golan), from Proto-Brythonic *gwuɨlann, from Proto-Celtic *weilannā (“seagull”). Cognate with Old Irish foílenn, Scottish Gaelic faoileag. Compare French goéland, a borrowing from Breton. Eclipsed Middle English lare (borrowed from Latin larus) and Middle English mewe (from Old English mæw).

This word in other languages

gaviota(Español)goéland(Français)Möwe(Deutsch)gaivota(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ggull
  • glul
  • ugll

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of gull - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ggull1glul2ugll2
Edit distance from "gull"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "gull"?
"gull" is spelled G-U-L-L. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈɡʌl/.
What does "gull" mean?
As a noun, "gull" means: A seabird of the genus Larus or of the subfamily Larinae.
What words are commonly confused with "gull"?
"gull" is commonly confused with "guy", "gun", "gut". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "gull"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gull" is /ˈɡʌl/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "gull"?
Inherited from Middle English gulle, from a Brythonic language (compare Breton gouelan, Welsh gwylan, and Cornish golan), from Proto-Brythonic *gwuɨlann, from Proto-Celtic *weilannā (“seagull”). Cognate with Old Irish foílenn, Scottish Gaelic faoi... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "gull", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

furs#28,931foxy#28,925fowl#28,924fong#28,923

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list