gazesvsgoesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“gazes” and “goes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,480
“gazes” frequency rank
#606
“goes” frequency rank
47086
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gazes goes
Definition third-person singular simple present indicative of gaze third-person singular simple present indicative of go

Where the eye mixes gazes and goes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
gazes
4 ch
goes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gazes (/ˈɡeɪ.zɪz/) and goes (/ɡəʊz/) 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 47086, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gazes is recorded at frequency rank #46,480, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɡeɪ.zɪz/. goes is at rank #606, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɡəʊz/.

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 47086, this pair ranks #205,697 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gazes vs goes

Shared letters: egs. Private to "gazes": az. Private to "goes": o.

"gazes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "goes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gazesagzes · gaezs · gazess · gazse · gazzes · ggazes · gzaes
  • goesgeos · ggoes · goess · gose · oges

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gazes" and "goes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɡeɪ.zɪz/ versus /ɡəʊz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gazes" or "goes"?
"goes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #606 in our English list, against #46,480 for "gazes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list