gossvsGussTell them apart

Quick tell: goss is a verb, Guss is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“goss” is a verb and “Guss” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,706
“goss” frequency rank
#25,581
“Guss” frequency rank
60287
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature goss Guss
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs gießen Vorgang des Gießens

Where the eye mixes goss and Guss

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. goss 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
goss
4 ch
Guss

Visual trap between goss and Guss

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: goss is [ɡɔs] while Guss is [ɡʊs]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - o in “goss” becomes u in “Guss”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60287, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

goss is recorded at frequency rank #34,706, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡɔs]. 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 60287, this pair ranks #792,577 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of goss vs Guss

Shared letters: gs. Private to "goss": o. Private to "Guss": u.

"goss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Guss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • goss ← ggoss · gos · goß · gsos · ogss
  • Guss ← gguss · gsus · guß · ugss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "goss" and "Guss" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "goss" is a verb and "Guss" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "goss" or "Guss"?
"Guss" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,581 in our German list, against #34,706 for "goss". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "goss" 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 #792,577 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "goss" and "Guss" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Goch vs goss". 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 #792,577 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