gauge
/ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/
"gauge" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gauge” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #6,912. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #6,912
- frequency rank, English
- 2,313
- “G” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions, distance, or capacity; a standard
Corpus desk
Index EN-gauge · gauge · English
gauge · rank #6,912 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #6,912
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,313
- PHOTO-FINISH fusion
Nearest frequency peer: fusion (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “gauge”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- fridge
fridge
93,092 corpus weight
- functioning
functioning
93,091 corpus weight
- fusion
fusion
93,090 corpus weight
- gauge
gauge
93,089 corpus weight
- goat
goat
93,088 corpus weight
- gut
gut
93,086 corpus weight
What this shows “gauge” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | gauge |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #6,912 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “gauge”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around gauge (IPA /ˈɡeɪd͡ʒ/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #6,912 among 2,313 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 17 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for gauge, with forms such as "aguge", "gague", and "gaueg". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "gave", "glue", "gaze", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English gauge, gaugen, from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French gauger (compare Modern French jauger from Old French jaugier), from gauge (“gauging rod”), from Frankish *galga (“measuring rod, pole”), from Proto-Germanic *galgô (“pole, stake, cros… The correct English form is gauge, spelled G-A-U-G-E.
Definition
- 1A measure; a standard of measure; an instrument to determine dimensions, distance, or capacity; a standard
- 2An act of measuring.
- 3An estimate.
- 4Any instrument for ascertaining or regulating the level, state, dimensions or forms of things
- 5A thickness of sheet metal or wire designated by any of several numbering schemes, with lower numbers indicating larger size.
- 6Ellipsis of track gauge.
- 7Ellipsis of loading gauge.
- 8A semi-norm; a function that assigns a non-negative size to all vectors in a vector space.
- 9The number of stitches per inch, centimetre, or other unit of distance.
- 10Relative positions of two or more vessels with reference to the wind.
- 11The depth to which a vessel sinks in the water.
- 12The quantity of plaster of Paris used with common plaster to make it set more quickly.
- 13That part of a shingle, slate, or tile, which is exposed to the weather, when laid; also, one course of such shingles, slates, or tiles.
- 14A unit of measurement which describes how many spheres of bore diameter of a shotgun can be had from one pound of lead; 12 gauge is roughly equivalent to .75 caliber.
- 15A shotgun (synecdoche for 12 gauge shotgun, the most common chambering for combat and hunting shotguns).
- 16A tunnel-like ear piercing consisting of a hollow ring embedded in the lobe.
- 17Cannabis.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how gauge appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
1780, Edmund Burke, speech at The Guildhall, in Bristol the gauge and dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt
The record of philosophy vis-à-vis silence is generally dismal, as good a gauge as any to its overall failure.
Etymology
From Middle English gauge, gaugen, from Anglo-Norman, Old Northern French gauger (compare Modern French jauger from Old French jaugier), from gauge (“gauging rod”), from Frankish *galga (“measuring rod, pole”), from Proto-Germanic *galgô (“pole, stake, cross”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰalgʰ-, *ǵʰalg- (“perch, long switch”). Cognate with Old High German galgo, Old Frisian galga, Old English ġealga (“cross-beam, gallows”), Old Norse galgi (“cross-beam, gallows”), Old Norse gelgja (“pole, perch”). Doublet of gallows.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- aguge
- gague
- gaueg
- gaugge
- ggauge
- guage
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of gauge - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "gauge", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).