Which to use
“gather” is a verb and “gutter” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,762
- “gather” frequency rank
- #17,624
- “gutter” frequency rank
- 22386
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gather | gutter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To collect normally separate things. | A prepared channel in a surface, especially at the side of a road adjacent to a curb, intended for the drainage of water. |
Where the eye mixes gather and gutter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between gather and gutter
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gather is /ˈɡæðə/ while gutter is /ˈɡʌt.ə/. 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 22386, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gather is recorded at frequency rank #4,762, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɡæðə/. gutter is at rank #17,624, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡʌt.ə/.
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 22386, this pair ranks #416,969 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gather vs gutter
Shared letters: egrt. Private to "gather": ah. Private to "gutter": u.
"gather" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "gutter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gather" for "gutter" ever safe?
Which is more common, "gather" or "gutter"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "gather" and "gutter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gather" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gutter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,969 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gather" and "gutter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gunter vs gutter". 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 #416,969 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.