godsvsgooseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,626
“gods” frequency rank
#9,048
“goose” frequency rank
12674
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gods goose
Definition plural of god Any of various grazing waterfowl of the family Anatidae, which have feathers and webbed feet and are capable of flying, swimming, and walking on land, and which are generally bigger than ducks.

Where the eye mixes gods and goose

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gods
5 ch
goose

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gods (/ɡɑdz/) and goose (/ɡuːs/) 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 12674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gods is recorded at frequency rank #3,626, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɑdz/. goose is at rank #9,048, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡuːs/.

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 12674, this pair ranks #480,200 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gods vs goose

Shared letters: gos. Private to "gods": d. Private to "goose": e.

"gods" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "goose" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • godsgdos · ggods · godds · godss · gosd · ogds
  • gooseggoose · gooes · goosse · gosoe · ogose

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gods" and "goose" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɑdz/ versus /ɡuːs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gods" or "goose"?
"gods" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,626 in our English list, against #9,048 for "goose". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list