Which to use
“goals” is an adjective and “goes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,189
- “goals” frequency rank
- #606
- “goes” frequency rank
- 1795
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | goals | goes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Extremely admirable; worthy of being set as a goal and emulated. | third-person singular simple present indicative of go |
Where the eye mixes goals and goes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: goals is /ɡoʊlz/ while goes is /ɡəʊz/. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
goals is recorded at frequency rank #1,189, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɡoʊlz/. 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 1795, this pair ranks #526,640 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of goals vs goes
Shared letters: gos. Private to "goals": al. Private to "goes": e.
"goals" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "goes" · 4 letters · shape CVVC