gotsvsgutsyWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gots is a verb, gutsy is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gots” is a verb and “gutsy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,153
“gots” frequency rank
#40,272
“gutsy” frequency rank
81425
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gots gutsy
Definition Has, has got (3rd person singular). Marked by courage, determination or boldness in the face of difficulties or danger; having guts.

Letter map: gots vs gutsy

Shared letters muted; letters that set gots and gutsy apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. gots runs 4 letters (CVCC) against gutsy's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
gots
5 ch
gutsy

Grammar separator: gots vs gutsy

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: gots is averb and gutsyanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gots is recorded at frequency rank #41,153, classified as averb. gutsy is at rank #40,272, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡʌt.si/.

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 81425, this pair ranks #17,716 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gots vs gutsy

Shared letters: gst. Private to "gots": o. Private to "gutsy": uy.

"gots" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "gutsy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gots ← ggots · gost · gotss · gotts · gtos · ogts
  • gutsy ← ggutsy · gtusy · gutssy · gutsyy · guttsy · gutys · ugtsy

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gots" and "gutsy" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gots" is a verb and "gutsy" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "gots" or "gutsy" show up more?
"gutsy" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,272 in our English list, against #41,153 for "gots". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "gots" and "gutsy".

  • Full dictionary entry for "gots" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gutsy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #17,716 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gots" and "gutsy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "goer vs gots". 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 #17,716 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