ghostsvsgotsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ghosts is a noun, gots is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ghosts” is a noun and “gots” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,546
“ghosts” frequency rank
#41,153
“gots” frequency rank
49699
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ghosts gots
Definition plural of ghost Has, has got (3rd person singular).

Letter map: ghosts vs gots

Shared letters muted; letters that set ghosts and gots apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

6 ch
ghosts
4 ch
gots

Role in the sentence - ghosts and gots

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ghosts is anoun and gotsaverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ghosts is recorded at frequency rank #8,546, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡoʊsts/. gots is at rank #41,153, tagged as averb.

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 49699, this pair ranks #181,170 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ghosts vs gots

Shared letters: gost. Private to "ghosts": h. Private to "gots": -.

"ghosts" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC  ·  "gots" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ghostsgghosts · ghhosts · ghossts · ghostss · ghostts · ghotss · ghsots · gohsts
  • gotsggots · gost · gotss · gotts · gtos · ogts

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ghosts" and "gots" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ghosts" is a noun and "gots" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "ghosts" or "gots" show up more?
"ghosts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,546 in our English list, against #41,153 for "gots". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "ghosts" vs "gots" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ghosts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #181,170 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ghosts" and "gots" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "goer vs gots". 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 #181,170 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list