Which to use
“god” and “gown” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #239
- “god” frequency rank
- #10,375
- “gown” frequency rank
- 10614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | god | gown |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A deity or supreme being; a supernatural, typically immortal, being with superior powers, to which personhood is attributed. | A loose, flowing upper garment. |
Where the eye mixes god and gown
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses god with gown
A purely visual mix-up. god (/ɡɒd/) and gown (/ɡaʊn/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
god is recorded at frequency rank #239, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɒd/. gown is at rank #10,375, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡaʊn/.
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 10614, this pair ranks #491,417 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of god vs gown
Shared letters: go. Private to "god": d. Private to "gown": nw.
"god" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "gown" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- gown ← ggown · gonw · gownn · gowwn · gwon · ogwn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "god" for "gown" ever safe?
Frequency check: "god" vs "gown" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "god" and "gown" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "god" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gown" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #491,417 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "god" and "gown" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "goer vs gown". 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 #491,417 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.