gouldvsguildWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,244
“gould” frequency rank
#7,923
“guild” frequency rank
24167
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gould guild
Definition Obsolete form of gold. A group or association mainly of tradespeople made up of merchants, craftspeople, or artisans, particularly in the Middle Ages, established to oversee and protect their specific commercial interests and to provide mutual aid.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
gould
5 ch
guild

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

gould and guild are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gould is recorded at frequency rank #16,244, classified as anoun. guild is at rank #7,923, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɪld/.

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 24167, this pair ranks #403,977 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gould vs guild

Shared letters: dglu. Private to "gould": o. Private to "guild": i.

"gould" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC  ·  "guild" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gouldggould · golud · goudl · gouldd · goulld · guold · oguld
  • guildgguild · giuld · guidl · guildd · guilld · gulid · ugild

Frequency comparison

gould#16,244
guild#7,923

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gould" and "guild" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "gould" or "guild"?
"guild" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,923 in our English list, against #16,244 for "gould". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering gould vs guild

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 “gould” 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