Gage or gauge?
gage is a verb meaning “To bind (someone) by pledge or security; to engage”; gauge is a noun meaning “A measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions…”. Use gage as a verb and gauge as a noun (gauge is also a verb: “To measure or determine with a gauge; to measure the…”). They sound the same (/ɡeɪd͡ʒ/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) gauge is about 6.3 times as common as gage.
What is the difference between gage and gauge?
| gage | gauge | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb, noun | noun, verb |
| Meaning | To bind (someone) by pledge or security; to engage Something, such as a glove or other pledge, thrown down as a challenge to combat (now usually figurative) A subspecies of plum, Prunus domestica subsp. italica | A measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions, distance, or capacity; a standard An act of measuring To measure or determine with a gauge; to measure the capacity of |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | gages, gaging, gaged | gauges |
| Pronunciation | /ɡeɪd͡ʒ/ | /ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/ /ˈɡæɪd͡ʒ/ |
| In writing | 1.7 times per million words | 10 times per million words |
Sources: gage and gauge in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of gage and gauge
gage
- 1
To bind (someone) by pledge or security; to engage
- 2
Something, such as a glove or other pledge, thrown down as a challenge to combat (now usually figurative)
- 3
USAlternative spelling of gauge
- 4
USAlternative spelling of gauge
- 5
A subspecies of plum, Prunus domestica subsp. italica
- 6
datedslangMarijuana
- 7
Initialism of Georgetown Alliance of Graduate Employees
gauge
- 1
A measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions, distance, or capacity; a standard
- 2
To measure or determine with a gauge; to measure the capacity of
- 3
An act of measuring
- 4
To estimate
- 5
An estimate
- 6
To appraise the character or ability of; to judge of
- 7
Any instrument for ascertaining or regulating the level, state, dimensions or forms of things
- 8
To draw into equidistant gathers by running a thread through it
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, gage or gauge?
gage appears 1.7 times per million words; gauge 10 times per million words.
gage 1.7 times per million wordsgauge 10 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search gage vs gauge?
“gage vs gauge” is searched about 9,900 times a month on Google and 1,510 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“gauge vs gage”, “gage or gauge”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.