Gild or guild?
gild is a verb meaning “To cover with a thin layer of gold; to cover with gold leaf”; guild is a noun meaning “A group or association mainly of tradespeople made up of merchants…”. Use gild as a verb and guild as a noun. They sound the same (/ɡɪld/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) guild is about 32 times as common as gild.
What is the difference between gild and guild?
| gild | guild | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | verb | noun |
| Meaning | To cover with a thin layer of gold; to cover with gold leaf To adorn | A group or association mainly of tradespeople made up of merchants, craftspeople, or artisans, particularly in the Middle Ages, established to oversee and… A corporation |
| Example | none recorded | none recorded |
| Forms | gilds, gilding, gilded, gilt | guilds |
| Pronunciation | /ɡɪld/ | /ɡɪld/ |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words | 8.5 times per million words |
Sources: gild and guild in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of gild and guild
gild
- 1
To cover with a thin layer of gold; to cover with gold leaf
- 2
To adorn
- 3
To decorate with a golden surface appearance
- 4
To give a bright or pleasing aspect to
- 5
To give a brilliant colour or flush to one's face; (also) to make appear drunk
guild
- 1
A group or association mainly of tradespeople made up of merchants, craftspeople, or artisans, particularly in the Middle Ages, established to oversee and protect their specific commercial interests…
- 2
A corporation
- 3
A group of diverse species that share common characteristics or habits
- 4
An organized group of players who regularly play together in a multiplayer game
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, gild or guild?
gild appears about once in every 4 million words; guild 8.5 times per million words.
gild about once in every 4 million wordsguild 8.5 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search gild vs guild?
“gild vs guild” is searched about 40 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“guild vs gild”, “gild or guild”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.