guff

/ɡʌf/

//ɡʌf// noun

"guff" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“guff” is uncommon English (frequency #66,699 among 2,313 “G” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#66,699
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Nonsensical talk or thinking.

Corpus desk

Index EN-guff · guff · English

guff · rank #66,699 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #66,699
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH guanine

Nearest frequency peer: guanine (-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.

Long-tail ranks near “guff”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “guff” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for guff
PropertyValue
Headwordguff
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɡʌf/
Letters4
Frequency rank#66,699
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “guff” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).gufffalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Rare peers in the same band: “guanine” (#66,698), “gummi” (#66,700), “gunny” (#66,701). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “guff” is #66,699. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

guff is uncommon English at frequency #66,699 among 2,313 “G” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ɡʌf/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 4 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for guff in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct English form is guff, spelled G-U-F-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    Nonsensical talk or thinking.
  2. 2
    Superfluous information.
  3. 3
    Insolent or otherwise unacceptable remarks.
  4. 4
    A fart; act of breaking wind.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how guff appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. “… That woman is stark mad, Lord Stranleigh.[…]If she had her way, she’d ruin the company inside a year with her hare-brained schemes ; love of the people, and that sort of guff.”
  2. “Oh, my God. Did-did you guys kill him?” “No! No one murdered him” “No! What... He was just...” “We found him in there.” “(laughs) I'm just giving you guff. And, uh, just so you know, I am feeding on you guys right now.”

Synonyms

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

How do you spell "guff"?
"guff" is spelled G-U-F-F. The IPA pronunciation is /ɡʌf/.
What does "guff" mean?
As a noun, "guff" means: Nonsensical talk or thinking.
How do you pronounce "guff"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "guff" is /ɡʌf/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "guff" come from?
"guff" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "guff", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list