Which to use
“gross” is an adjective and “guess” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,305
- “gross” frequency rank
- #694
- “guess” frequency rank
- 3999
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gross | guess |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Highly or conspicuously offensive. | To reach a partly (or totally) unconfirmed conclusion; to engage in conjecture; to speculate. |
Where the eye mixes gross and guess
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gross is /ɡɹəʊs/ while guess is /ɡɛs/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3999, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gross is recorded at frequency rank #3,305, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɡɹəʊs/. guess is at rank #694, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɡɛs/.
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 3999, this pair ranks #520,315 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gross vs guess
Shared letters: gs. Private to "gross": or. Private to "guess": eu.
"gross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "guess" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC