GanvsgutWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: Gan is a noun, gut is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Gan” is a noun and “gut” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,782
“Gan” frequency rank
#89
“gut” frequency rank
35871
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gan gut
Definition unter anderem in Jiangxi und Hubei gesprochene chinesische Sprache vom Menschen her positiv bewertet, empfunden, gefühlt und dergleichen

Where the eye mixes Gan and gut

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
Gan
3 ch
gut

Look-alike desk: Gan vs gut

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gan is [ɡan] while gut is [ɡuːt]. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gan is recorded at frequency rank #35,782, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡan]. gut is at rank #89, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡuːt].

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 35871, this pair ranks #1,629,510 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gan vs gut

Shared letters: g. Private to "Gan": an. Private to "gut": tu.

"Gan" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "gut" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gan" and "gut" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gan" is a noun and "gut" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Gan" vs "gut" - which ranks higher?
"gut" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #89 in our German list, against #35,782 for "Gan". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gut" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,629,510 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gan" and "gut" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gan vs Gao". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,629,510 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list