godsvsguysWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,626
“gods” frequency rank
#373
“guys” frequency rank
3999
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gods guys
Definition plural of god plural of guy

Where the eye mixes gods and guys

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gods
4 ch
guys

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gods (/ɡɑdz/) and guys (/ɡaɪz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3999, 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/. guys is at rank #373, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡaɪz/.

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 3999, this pair ranks #520,315 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gods vs guys

Shared letters: gs. Private to "gods": do. Private to "guys": uy.

"gods" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "guys" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • godsgdos · ggods · godds · godss · gosd · ogds
  • guysgguys · gusy · guyss · guyys · gyus · ugys

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gods" and "guys" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɑdz/ versus /ɡaɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gods" or "guys"?
"guys" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #373 in our English list, against #3,626 for "gods". 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