Which to use
“goode” is an adjective and “gouge” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,067
- “goode” frequency rank
- #41,154
- “gouge” frequency rank
- 71221
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | goode | gouge |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Obsolete spelling of good. | Senses relating to cutting tools. |
Letter map: goode vs gouge
Shared letters muted; letters that set goode and gouge apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. goode and gouge follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Part-of-speech tell for goode / gouge
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: goode is anadjective and gougeanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71221, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
goode is recorded at frequency rank #30,067, classified as anadj. gouge is at rank #41,154, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡaʊd͡ʒ/.
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 71221, this pair ranks #47,536 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of goode vs gouge
Shared letters: ego. Private to "goode": d. Private to "gouge": u.
"goode" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "gouge" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "goode" for "gouge" ever safe?
Which is more common, "goode" or "gouge"?
Useful next steps
You've compared "goode" and "gouge". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "goode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gouge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,536 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "goode" and "gouge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gog vs gouge". 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 #47,536 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.