Which to use
“goff” is a noun and “gruff” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,066
- “goff” frequency rank
- #36,588
- “gruff” frequency rank
- 66654
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | goff | gruff |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Obsolete form of golf (“ball game”). | having a rough, surly, and harsh demeanor and nature. |
Letter map: goff vs gruff
Shared letters muted; letters that set goff and gruff apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. goff runs 4 letters (CVCC) against gruff's 5 (CCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: goff vs gruff
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: goff is anoun and gruffanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66654, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
goff is recorded at frequency rank #30,066, classified as anoun. gruff is at rank #36,588, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɡɹʌf/.
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 66654, this pair ranks #67,016 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of goff vs gruff
Shared letters: fg. Private to "goff": o. Private to "gruff": ru.
"goff" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "gruff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "goff" for "gruff" ever safe?
Frequency check: "goff" vs "gruff" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've compared "goff" and "gruff". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "goff" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gruff" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,016 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "goff" and "gruff" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Griff vs gruff". 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 #67,016 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.