gazvsGoaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gaz is a noun, Goa is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gaz” is a noun and “Goa” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,953
“gaz” frequency rank
#31,080
“Goa” frequency rank
77033
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gaz Goa
Definition Gas indischer Bundesstaat an der Westküste des Landes; ehemalige portugiesische Kolonie

Where the eye mixes gaz and Goa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. gaz (CVC) and Goa (CVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
gaz
3 ch
Goa

Why the eye confuses gaz with Goa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gaz is [ɡaz] while Goa is [ˈɡoːa]. 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 name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77033, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gaz is recorded at frequency rank #45,953, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡaz]. Goa is at rank #31,080, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈɡoːa].

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 77033, this pair ranks #270,064 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gaz vs Goa

Shared letters: ag. Private to "gaz": z. Private to "Goa": o.

"gaz" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Goa" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gaz" and "Goa" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gaz" is a noun and "Goa" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gaz" or "Goa"?
"Goa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,080 in our German list, against #45,953 for "gaz". 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 "gaz" and "Goa" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gaz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Goa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #270,064 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gaz" and "Goa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gao vs gaz". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #270,064 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