GansvsGussWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Gans” and “Guss” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,997
“Gans” frequency rank
#25,581
“Guss” frequency rank
42578
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gans Guss
Definition eine ganze Reihe von nicht unmittelbar verwandten Gattungen der Gänsevögel (Halslänge zwischen Ente und Schwan, Beine nicht ganz so kurz wie bei den Enten) Vorgang des Gießens

Where the eye mixes Gans and Guss

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Gans and Guss follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
Gans
4 ch
Guss

Why the eye confuses Gans with Guss

A purely visual mix-up. Gans ([ɡans]) and Guss ([ɡʊs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42578, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gans is recorded at frequency rank #16,997, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡans]. Guss is at rank #25,581, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡʊs].

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 42578, this pair ranks #1,445,055 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gans vs Guss

Shared letters: gs. Private to "Gans": an. Private to "Guss": u.

"Gans" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Guss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gansagns · ganns · ganss · gasn · ggans · gnas
  • Gussgguss · gsus · guß · ugss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gans" and "Guss" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡans] versus [ɡʊs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Gans" or "Guss"?
"Gans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,997 in our German list, against #25,581 for "Guss". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "Gans" and "Guss" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gans" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Guss" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,445,055 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gans" and "Guss" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geis vs Guss". 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 #1,445,055 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