guckvsGussTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#3,451
“guck” frequency rank
#25,581
“Guss” frequency rank
29032
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature guck Guss
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs gucken Vorgang des Gießens

Where the eye mixes guck and Guss

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
guck
4 ch
Guss

Visual trap between guck and Guss

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: guck is [ɡʊk] while Guss is [ɡʊs]. 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 29032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

guck is recorded at frequency rank #3,451, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡʊk]. 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 29032, this pair ranks #1,774,259 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of guck vs Guss

Shared letters: gu. Private to "guck": ck. Private to "Guss": s.

"guck" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "Guss" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • guckgcuk · gguck · gucck · guckk · gukc · ugck
  • Gussgguss · gsus · guß · ugss

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "guck" for "Guss" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "guck" is a verb and "Guss" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "guck" or "Guss"?
"guck" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,451 in our German list, against #25,581 for "Guss". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "guck" 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 #1,774,259 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "guck" and "Guss" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geis vs Guss". 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 #1,774,259 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