Which to use
“goes” is a verb and “guys” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,311
- “goes” frequency rank
- #26,041
- “guys” frequency rank
- 43352
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | goes | guys |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs go | Plural des Substantivs guy |
Where the eye mixes goes and guys
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: goes vs guys
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: goes is [ɡəʊz] while guys is [ɡaɪz]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43352, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
goes is recorded at frequency rank #17,311, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡəʊz]. guys is at rank #26,041, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡaɪz].
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 43352, this pair ranks #1,420,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of goes vs guys
Shared letters: gs. Private to "goes": eo. Private to "guys": uy.
"goes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "guys" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "goes" for "guys" ever safe?
Which is more common, "goes" or "guys"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "goes" and "guys" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "goes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "guys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,420,784 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "goes" and "guys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geis vs guys". 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 #1,420,784 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.