godsvsGoldesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#40,572
“gods” frequency rank
#43,929
“Goldes” frequency rank
84501
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gods Goldes
Definition Plural des Substantivs god Genitiv Singular des Substantivs Gold

Where the eye mixes gods and Goldes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gods runs 4 letters (CVCC) against Goldes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
gods
6 ch
Goldes

Why the eye confuses gods with Goldes

A purely visual mix-up. gods ([ɡɒdz]) and Goldes ([ˈɡɔldəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84501, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gods is recorded at frequency rank #40,572, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡɒdz]. Goldes is at rank #43,929, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡɔldəs].

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 84501, this pair ranks #122,747 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gods vs Goldes

Shared letters: dgos. Private to "gods": -. Private to "Goldes": el.

"gods" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Goldes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • godsgdos · ggods · godds · godss · gosd · ogds
  • Goldesggoldes · glodes · godles · golddes · goldess · goldse · goleds · golldes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gods" and "Goldes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡɒdz] versus [ˈɡɔldəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "gods" or "Goldes" show up more?
"gods" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,572 in our German list, against #43,929 for "Goldes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gods" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Goldes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #122,747 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gods" and "Goldes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gilden vs Goldes". 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 #122,747 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