Which to use
“gold” and “gout” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #692
- “gold” frequency rank
- #26,806
- “gout” frequency rank
- 27498
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gold | gout |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A heavy yellow elemental metal of great value, with atomic number 79 and symbol Au. | An extremely painful inflammation of joints, especially of the big toe, caused by a metabolic defect resulting in the accumulation of uric acid in the blood and the deposition of urates around the joints. |
Where the eye mixes gold and gout
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between gold and gout
A purely visual mix-up. gold (/ɡəʊld/) and gout (/ɡaʊt/) 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 27498, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gold is recorded at frequency rank #692, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡəʊld/. gout is at rank #26,806, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡaʊt/.
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 27498, this pair ranks #378,463 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gold vs gout
Shared letters: go. Private to "gold": dl. Private to "gout": tu.
"gold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "gout" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "gold" and "gout" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "gold" vs "gout" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gout" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #378,463 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gold" and "gout" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "goer vs gout". 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 #378,463 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.