gouge
/ɡaʊd͡ʒ/
"gouge" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“gouge” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #41,154 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #41,154
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Senses relating to cutting tools.
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 | gouge |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡaʊd͡ʒ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #41,154 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “gouge” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for gouge is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɡaʊd͡ʒ/. Corpus data places it at rank #41,154 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 9 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for gouge, with forms such as "ggouge", "gogue", and "goueg". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "gout", "gove", "gould", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English gouge (“chisel with concave blade; gouge”), from Old French gouge, goi (“gouge”), from Late Latin goia, gubia, gulbia (“chisel; piercer”), borrowed from Gaulish *gulbiā, from Proto-Celtic *gulbā, *gulbi, *gulbīnos (“beak, bill”). The Eng… The correct English form is gouge, spelled G-O-U-G-E.
Definition
- 1Senses relating to cutting tools.
- 2Senses relating to cutting tools.
- 3Senses relating to cutting tools.
- 4A cut or groove, as left by a gouge or something sharp.
- 5An act of gouging.
- 6A cheat, a fraud; an imposition.
- 7An impostor.
- 8Soft material lying between the wall of a vein and the solid vein of ore.
- 9Information.
Etymology
From Middle English gouge (“chisel with concave blade; gouge”), from Old French gouge, goi (“gouge”), from Late Latin goia, gubia, gulbia (“chisel; piercer”), borrowed from Gaulish *gulbiā, from Proto-Celtic *gulbā, *gulbi, *gulbīnos (“beak, bill”). The English word is cognate with Italian gorbia, gubbia (“ferrule”), Old Breton golb, Old Irish gulba (“beak”), Portuguese goiva, Scottish Gaelic gilb (“chisel”), Spanish gubia (“chisel, gouge”), Welsh gylf (“beak; pointed instrument”), gylyf (“sickle”). The verb is derived from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ggouge,gogue,goueg,gougge,guoge,oguge
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of gouge - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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
How do you spell "gouge"?
What does "gouge" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "gouge"?
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Using “gouge”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-O-U-G-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɡaʊd͡ʒ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “gout” - see the side-by-side comparison. gouge vs gout
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.