GoldvsGolfWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#1,083
“Gold” frequency rank
#3,740
“Golf” frequency rank
4823
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gold Golf
Definition gelbes, glänzendes, leicht verformbares Metall; das chemische Element mit der Ordnungszahl 79 großer Einschnitt des Meeres ins Festland, Bucht

Where the eye mixes Gold and Golf

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Gold
4 ch
Golf

Look-alike desk: Gold vs Golf

A purely visual mix-up. Gold ([ɡɔlt]) and Golf ([ɡɔlf]) 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 a single letter - d in “Gold” becomes f in “Golf”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4823, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gold is recorded at frequency rank #1,083, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡɔlt]. Golf is at rank #3,740, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡɔlf].

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 4823, this pair ranks #1,996,569 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Gold vs Golf

Shared letters: glo. Private to "Gold": d. Private to "Golf": f.

"Gold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Golf" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Goldggold · glod · godl · goldd · golld · ogld
  • Golfggolf · glof · gofl · golff · gollf · oglf

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gold" and "Golf" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡɔlt] versus [ɡɔlf]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Gold" or "Golf" show up more?
"Gold" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,083 in our German list, against #3,740 for "Golf". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Golf" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,996,569 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gold" and "Golf" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Golf vs golfen". 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 #1,996,569 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