Which to use
“gusts” is a noun and “gutsy” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,852
- “gusts” frequency rank
- #40,272
- “gutsy” frequency rank
- 64124
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gusts | gutsy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of gust | Marked by courage, determination or boldness in the face of difficulties or danger; having guts. |
Where the eye mixes gusts and gutsy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gusts (CVCCC) and gutsy (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between gusts and gutsy
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gusts is /ɡʌsts/ while gutsy is /ˈɡʌt.si/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gusts is recorded at frequency rank #23,852, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡʌsts/. gutsy is at rank #40,272, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡʌt.si/.
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 64124, this pair ranks #79,358 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of gusts vs gutsy
Shared letters: gstu. Private to "gusts": -. Private to "gutsy": y.
"gusts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "gutsy" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gusts" for "gutsy" ever safe?
Which is more common, "gusts" or "gutsy"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "gusts" and "gutsy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gusts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gutsy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #79,358 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gusts" and "gutsy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gusty vs gutsy". 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 #79,358 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.