Which to use
“gun” and “guns” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,283
- “gun” frequency rank
- #34,148
- “guns” frequency rank
- 54431
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gun | guns |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Feuerwaffe, Schusswaffe | Plural des Substantivs gun |
Where the eye mixes gun and guns
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gun runs 3 letters (CVC) against guns's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: gun vs guns
A purely visual mix-up. gun ([ɡʌn]) and guns ([ɡʌnz]) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “gun” sits inside “guns”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gun is recorded at frequency rank #20,283, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡʌn]. guns is at rank #34,148, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡʌnz].
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 54431, this pair ranks #1,019,180 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gun vs guns
Shared letters: gnu. Private to "gun": -. Private to "guns": s.
"gun" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "guns" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- guns ← gguns · gnus · gunns · gunss · gusn · ugns
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gun" for "guns" ever safe?
In ordinary German text, does "gun" or "guns" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "gun" and "guns" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "guns" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,019,180 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gun" and "guns" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "geis vs guns". 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 #1,019,180 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.