Which to use
“govern” and “governs” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,709
- “govern” frequency rank
- #23,847
- “governs” frequency rank
- 35556
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | govern | governs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in. | third-person singular simple present indicative of govern |
Letter map: govern vs governs
Shared letters muted; letters that set govern and governs apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. govern runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against governs's 7 (CVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Pair insight - govern / governs
govern and governs 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 differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “govern” sits inside “governs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
govern is recorded at frequency rank #11,709, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈɡʌv.ən/. governs is at rank #23,847, tagged as averb.
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 35556, this pair ranks #310,953 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of govern vs governs
Shared letters: egnorv. Private to "govern": -. Private to "governs": s.
"govern" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "governs" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "govern" and "governs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "govern" or "governs" show up more?
After this comparison
You've compared "govern" and "governs". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "govern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "governs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #310,953 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "govern" and "governs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "givens vs governs". 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 #310,953 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.