Gans

[ɡans]

/[ɡans]/ noun

The verdict

“Gans” has 6 generated spelling variants in the German index at frequency #16,997. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#16,997
frequency rank, German
5,117
“G” headwords
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - eine ganze Reihe von nicht unmittelbar verwandten Gattungen der Gänsevögel (Halslänge zwischen Ente und Schwan, Beine nicht ganz so kurz wie bei den Enten)

Corpus desk

Index DE-gans · Gans · German

Gans · rank #16,997 · 6 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #16,997
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 6 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,117
  • PHOTO-FINISH Galaxie

Nearest frequency peer: Galaxie (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “Gans”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “Gans” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

Gans vs gs
25% similar
Gans vs gar
25% similar
Gans vs Gas
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for Gans
PropertyValue
HeadwordGans
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ɡans]
Letters4
Frequency rank#16,997
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Wo “Gans” in der deutschen Häufigkeit sitzt

Diese Skala geht vom Kern des Alltagdeutschen (links) bis zum seltenen Langschwanz (rechts).Gansliegt hier:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Achse ist logarithmisch: jeder Tick markiert etwa zehnfach geringere Häufigkeit. In derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite liegen „Galaxie“ (#16,996), „gebastelt“ (#16,998), „freedom“ (#16,995). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 6 spelling variants around Gans (IPA [ɡans]), anoun. Corpus frequency is #16,997 among 5,117 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for Gans, with forms such as "agns", "ganns", and "ganss". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "gs", "gar", "Gas", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct German form is Gans, spelled G-A-N-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    eine ganze Reihe von nicht unmittelbar verwandten Gattungen der Gänsevögel (Halslänge zwischen Ente und Schwan, Beine nicht ganz so kurz wie bei den Enten)
  2. 2
    Unterfamilie der Entenvögel
  3. 3
    die Hausgans (Anser anserf.domestica)
  4. 4
    weibliche Gans
  5. 5
    weibliche Person, Frau oder Mädchen

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how Gans appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. In China gilt die Gans als Symbol ehelicher Treue.
  2. „Die Kinder waren verschwunden, und selbst die Gänse hatten das Weite gesucht.“

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • agns
  • ganns
  • ganss
  • gasn
  • ggans
  • gnas

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Gans - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

agns2ganns1ganss1gasn2ggans1gnas2
Edit distance from "Gans"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "Gans"?
"Gans" is spelled G-A-N-S. The IPA pronunciation is [ɡans].
What does "Gans" mean?
As a noun, "Gans" means: eine ganze Reihe von nicht unmittelbar verwandten Gattungen der Gänsevögel (Halslänge zwischen Ente und Schwan, Beine nicht ganz so kurz wie bei den Enten)
What words are commonly confused with "Gans"?
"Gans" is commonly confused with "gs", "gar", "Gas". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "Gans"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "Gans" is [ɡans]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "Gans" come from?
"Gans" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Gans", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).

What to do next

You've looked up "Gans". Here's where to go from here.

  • "Gans" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "gs". View pair
  • 6 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
  • Usage frequency rank #16,997 among German headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more German words in the "G" letter cohort. G–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list