goo
/ɡuː/
"goo" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“goo” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #16,927) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #16,927
- frequency rank, English
- 2,313
- “G” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any semi-solid or liquid substance; especially one that is sticky, gummy or slippery, unpleasant, and of vague or unknown composition, such as slime or semen.
Corpus desk
Index EN-goo · goo · English
goo · rank #16,927 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #16,927
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,313
- PHOTO-FINISH glued
Nearest frequency peer: glued (-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.
Frequency neighbours of confusable “goo”
Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below
- genie
genie
83,077 corpus weight
- Georges
Georges
83,076 corpus weight
- glued
glued
83,075 corpus weight
- goo
goo
83,074 corpus weight
- Goodwin
Goodwin
83,073 corpus weight
- Hannibal
Hannibal
83,072 corpus weight
What this shows Bars place “goo” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.
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 | goo |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡuː/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #16,927 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus rank beside confusables of “goo”
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for goo is neighbouring look-alikes ("GP", "GS", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ɡuː/. Frequency #16,927 among 2,313 “G” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for goo, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "GP", "GS", "GR", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Etymology tree English burgoo? Proto-Indo-European *gleyH- Proto-Indo-European *glóh₁ytn̥ Proto-Italic *gloiten Latin glūten Late Latin glūs Old French glubor. Middle English glew English glue? English goo American English, attested since 1903, possibly fro… The correct English form is goo, spelled G-O-O.
Definition
- 1Any semi-solid or liquid substance; especially one that is sticky, gummy or slippery, unpleasant, and of vague or unknown composition, such as slime or semen.
- 2Excessive, showy sentimentality.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how goo appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
I stepped in some goo and had a terrible time getting the sticky stuff off my shoes.
[…] To be really human is probably to be unavoidably sentimental and naive and goo-prone and generally pathetic, is to be in some basic interior way forever infantile, some sort of not-quite-right-looking infant dragging itself anaclitically around the map, with big wet eyes and froggy-soft skin, huge skull, gooey drool.
Etymology
Etymology tree English burgoo? Proto-Indo-European *gleyH- Proto-Indo-European *glóh₁ytn̥ Proto-Italic *gloiten Latin glūten Late Latin glūs Old French glubor. Middle English glew English glue? English goo American English, attested since 1903, possibly from burgoo (“thick porridge”); alternatively, an alteration of glue.
This word in other languages
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 "goo", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).