Get started

“Balks” or “Baulks”

Balks is predominantly used in American (US) English (en-US) while baulks is predominantly used in British English (used in UK/AU/NZ) (en-GB).

Get Sapling See examples
Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 8 prefer “balks” and 0 prefer “baulks”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country balks baulks Preference
United States 99 1 “balks”
United Kingdom 93 7 “balks”
India 92 8 “balks”
Philippines 100 0 “balks”
Canada 100 0 “balks”
Australia 90 10 “balks”
Liberia 0 0 Not enough data
Ireland 100 0 “balks”
New Zealand 100 0 “balks”
Jamaica 0 0 Not enough data
Trinidad & Tobago 0 0 Not enough data
Guyana 0 0 Not enough data
Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“balks”

  • …replaced by Alex Pareene of Wonkette.
  • Balks: Dwight Gooden 2
  • …passed ball), or by batting, balks or by being forced off.
  • Radtchenko balks after seeing the first team's…
  • …intentional base on balls, two balks and a 3.81 earned run
  • …pitches, 8,398 batters faced, 2 balks and a 3.70 ERA.
  • Shelton balks at the deal and so…
  • …faced, 58 intentional walks, 3 balks, and a 3.58 ERA.
  • Samantha balks but finally agrees when she…
  • "Raid by 500 Indians balks North Carolina Klan rally."

“baulks”

  • These photos show baulks at Canton Junction in 1871.
  • The baulks supported the rails without the…
  • …Network Rail where the timber baulks are called waybeams or longitudinal
  • …only known instance of transomless baulks recessed in granite slabs; the…
  • …tender ran across the timber baulks to reach the far side,…
  • …using cast iron where timber baulks would have sufficed.
  • Baulks were used to support strap…
  • Track installation - baulks, rail and ballast - the…
  • The deck troughs and baulks were abandoned at this time,…
  • Timber baulks under the track were being…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

Too much to remember?

Looking for a tool that handles this for you wherever you write?

Install Sapling Try the grammar checker