Which to use
“goody” is an intj and “gory” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,478
- “goody” frequency rank
- #29,672
- “gory” frequency rank
- 57150
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | goody | gory |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Used to indicate pleasure or delight. | Covered with blood; very bloody. |
Where the eye mixes goody and gory
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. goody runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against gory's 4 (CVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses goody with gory
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: goody is /ˈɡʊdi/ while gory is /ˈɡɔː.ɹi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
goody is recorded at frequency rank #27,478, classified as anintj, pronounced /ˈɡʊdi/. gory is at rank #29,672, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡɔː.ɹi/.
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 57150, this pair ranks #121,275 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of goody vs gory
Shared letters: goy. Private to "goody": d. Private to "gory": r.
"goody" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "gory" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "goody" for "gory" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "goody" or "gory" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "goody" and "gory" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "goody" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gory" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #121,275 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "goody" and "gory" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gere vs gory". 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 #121,275 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.