gridsvsguildsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,462
“grids” frequency rank
#26,102
“guilds” frequency rank
50564
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grids guilds
Definition plural of grid plural of guild

Where the eye mixes grids and guilds

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
grids
6 ch
guilds

Why the eye confuses grids with guilds

A purely visual mix-up. grids (/ɡɹɪdz/) and guilds (/ɡɪldz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50564, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grids is recorded at frequency rank #24,462, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹɪdz/. guilds is at rank #26,102, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɪldz/.

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 50564, this pair ranks #173,139 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grids vs guilds

Shared letters: dgis. Private to "grids": r. Private to "guilds": lu.

"grids" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "guilds" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gridsggrids · girds · grdis · gridds · gridss · grisd · grrids · rgids
  • guildsgguilds · giulds · guidls · guildds · guildss · guillds · guilsd · gulids

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "grids" and "guilds" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹɪdz/ versus /ɡɪldz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "grids" or "guilds"?
"grids" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,462 in our English list, against #26,102 for "guilds". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "grids" and "guilds" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grids" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "guilds" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #173,139 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grids" and "guilds" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gilda vs guilds". 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 #173,139 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