goldsvsguildsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,460
“golds” frequency rank
#26,102
“guilds” frequency rank
50562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature golds guilds
Definition plural of gold plural of guild

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set golds and guilds apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
golds
6 ch
guilds

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. golds (/ɡəʊldz/) and guilds (/ɡɪldz/) 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 50562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

golds is recorded at frequency rank #24,460, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡəʊldz/. guilds is at rank #26,102, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɪldz/.

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 50562, this pair ranks #173,166 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of golds vs guilds

Shared letters: dgls. Private to "golds": o. Private to "guilds": iu.

"golds" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "guilds" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • goldsggolds · glods · godls · goldds · goldss · gollds · golsd · oglds
  • guildsgguilds · giulds · guidls · guildds · guildss · guillds · guilsd · gulids

Frequency comparison

golds#24,460
guilds#26,102

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "golds" and "guilds" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡəʊldz/ versus /ɡɪldz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "golds" or "guilds"?
"golds" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,460 in our English list, against #26,102 for "guilds". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering golds vs guilds

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “golds” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list