Which to use
“governor” is a noun and “governs” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,998
- “governor” frequency rank
- #23,847
- “governs” frequency rank
- 25845
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | governor | governs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The chief executive officer of a first-level administrative division of a country. | third-person singular simple present indicative of govern |
Letter map: governor vs governs
Shared letters muted; letters that set governor and governs apart highlighted. Shared run: 6. governor runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against governs's 7 (CVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - governor and governs
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: governor is anoun and governsaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25845, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
governor is recorded at frequency rank #1,998, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡʌv(ə)nə(ɹ)/. 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 25845, this pair ranks #391,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of governor vs governs
Shared letters: egnorv. Private to "governor": -. Private to "governs": s.
"governor" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "governs" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "governor" for "governs" ever safe?
Frequency check: "governor" vs "governs" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "governor" and "governs".
- Full dictionary entry for "governor" 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 #391,205 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "governor" 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 #391,205 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.