guaranteevsguarantyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,364
“guarantee” frequency rank
#47,662
“guaranty” frequency rank
51026
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature guarantee guaranty
Definition Anything that assures a certain outcome. An undertaking to answer for the payment of some debt, or the performance of some contract or duty, of another, in case of the failure of such other to pay or perform; a warranty; a security.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set guarantee and guaranty apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
guarantee
8 ch
guaranty

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. guarantee and guaranty are pronounced identically (/ˌɡæɹ.ənˈtiː/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51026, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

guarantee is recorded at frequency rank #3,364, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌɡæɹ.ənˈtiː/. guaranty is at rank #47,662, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡæɹənti/.

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 51026, this pair ranks #169,031 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of guarantee vs guaranty

Shared letters: agnrtu. Private to "guarantee": e. Private to "guaranty": y.

"guarantee" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCVV  ·  "guaranty" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • guaranteegaurantee · gguarantee · guaarntee · guaranete · guaranntee · guarante · guaranttee · guaratnee
  • guarantygauranty · gguaranty · guaarnty · guarannty · guarantty · guarantyy · guaranyt · guaratny

Frequency comparison

guarantee#3,364
guaranty#47,662

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "guarantee" and "guaranty" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (/ˌɡæɹ.ənˈtiː/), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "guarantee" or "guaranty"?
"guarantee" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,364 in our English list, against #47,662 for "guaranty". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering guarantee vs guaranty

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 “guarantee” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list