Which to use
“ghosts” is a noun and “gross” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,546
- “ghosts” frequency rank
- #3,305
- “gross” frequency rank
- 11851
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ghosts | gross |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of ghost | Highly or conspicuously offensive. |
Where the eye mixes ghosts and gross
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ghosts runs 6 letters (CCVCCC) against gross's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: ghosts vs gross
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ghosts is /ɡoʊsts/ while gross is /ɡɹəʊs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11851, 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/. gross is at rank #3,305, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɡɹəʊs/.
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 11851, this pair ranks #484,800 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ghosts vs gross
Shared letters: gos. Private to "ghosts": ht. Private to "gross": r.
"ghosts" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC · "gross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ghosts" for "gross" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "ghosts" or "gross" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ghosts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gross" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #484,800 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ghosts" and "gross" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gross vs grosser". 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 #484,800 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.