goodevsgoonTell them apart

Quick tell: goode is a adjective, goon is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“goode” is an adjective and “goon” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,067
“goode” frequency rank
#25,074
“goon” frequency rank
55141
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature goode goon
Definition Obsolete spelling of good. A thug; a usually muscular henchman with little intelligence.

Letter map: goode vs goon

Shared letters muted; letters that set goode and goon apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
goode
4 ch
goon

Role in the sentence - goode and goon

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: goode is anadjective and goonanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55141, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

goode is recorded at frequency rank #30,067, classified as anadj. goon is at rank #25,074, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡuːn/.

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 55141, this pair ranks #135,893 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of goode vs goon

Shared letters: go. Private to "goode": de. Private to "goon": n.

"goode" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "goon" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • goodeggoode · gode · godoe · goodde · gooed · ogode
  • goonggoon · gon · gono · goonn · ogon

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "goode" and "goon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "goode" is an adjective and "goon" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "goode" vs "goon" - which ranks higher?
"goon" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,074 in our English list, against #30,067 for "goode". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "goode" and "goon".

  • Full dictionary entry for "goode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "goon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #135,893 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "goode" and "goon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "goode vs goop". 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 #135,893 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list