Which to use
“gates” and “guts” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,304
- “gates” frequency rank
- #10,055
- “guts” frequency rank
- 14359
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gates | guts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of gate | plural of gut |
Where the eye mixes gates and guts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. gates (/ɡeɪts/) and guts (/ɡʌts/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14359, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gates is recorded at frequency rank #4,304, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡeɪts/. guts is at rank #10,055, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡʌts/.
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 14359, this pair ranks #470,504 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gates vs guts
Shared letters: gst. Private to "gates": ae. Private to "guts": u.
"gates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "guts" · 4 letters · shape CVCC