ghoulvsgouldWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,253
“ghoul” frequency rank
#16,244
“gould” frequency rank
49497
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ghoul gould
Definition A demon said to feed on corpses. Obsolete form of gold.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ghoul and gould apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
ghoul
5 ch
gould

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

ghoul and gould are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49497, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ghoul is recorded at frequency rank #33,253, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡuːl/. gould is at rank #16,244, tagged as anoun.

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 49497, this pair ranks #183,002 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ghoul vs gould

Shared letters: glou. Private to "ghoul": h. Private to "gould": d.

"ghoul" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "gould" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ghoulgghoul · ghhoul · gholu · ghoull · ghuol · gohul · hgoul
  • gouldggould · golud · goudl · gouldd · goulld · guold · oguld

Frequency comparison

ghoul#33,253
gould#16,244

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ghoul" and "gould" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "ghoul" or "gould"?
"gould" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,244 in our English list, against #33,253 for "ghoul". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ghoul vs gould

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ghoul” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list