gum

/ɡʌm/

//ɡʌm// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"gum" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“gum” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #7,799) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#7,799
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - The flesh around the teeth.

Corpus desk

Index EN-gum · gum · English

gum · rank #7,799 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,799
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH guessing

Nearest frequency peer: guessing (-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 “gum”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “gum” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

gum vs guy
67% similar
gum vs gun
67% similar
gum vs gym
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for gum
PropertyValue
Headwordgum
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɡʌm/
Letters3
Frequency rank#7,799
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “gum”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).gumlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “guessing” (#7,798), “hobby” (#7,800), “grove” (#7,797). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “gum” is #7,799. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for gum is neighbouring look-alikes ("guy", "gun", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ɡʌm/. Frequency #7,799 among 2,313 “G” headwords. Gloss: "The flesh around the teeth.".

Zero misspellings are on record for gum in our index, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "guy", "gun", "gym", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English gom, gome, gomme, goome, gum, gume, gumme, from Old English gōma (“palate”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōmō, from Proto-Germanic *gaumô, *gōmô (“palate”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to gape, yawn”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian… The correct English form is gum, spelled G-U-M.

Definition

  1. 1
    The flesh around the teeth.

Etymology

From Middle English gom, gome, gomme, goome, gum, gume, gumme, from Old English gōma (“palate”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōmō, from Proto-Germanic *gaumô, *gōmô (“palate”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to gape, yawn”). Cognates Cognate with Cimbrian gaumo (“palate”), German Gaum, Gaumen (“palate”), Luxembourgish Gomm, Gumm (“palate”), Yiddish גומען (gumen, “palate”), Danish gumme (“gums”), Icelandic gómur (“gum”), Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish gom (“palate”); also Latin hio (“to gape, yawn”), Ancient Greek χάσκω (kháskō, “to gape, yawn”), Lithuanian gomurỹs (“palate”), Bulgarian зе́я (zéja, “to gape”), Czech zát, zet (“to gape”), Polish ziać (“to pant”), Russian зия́ть (zijátʹ, “to gape, yawn”), Serbo-Croatian зи́јати, zíjati (“to gape, yawn”), Ukrainian зя́яти (zjájaty, “to gape”), Tocharian A koy- (“mouth”), Tocharian B koyn (“mouth”). More at yawn.

Synonyms

gingiva

This word in other languages

encía(Español)gencive(Français)Zahnfleisch(Deutsch)gengiva(Português)

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 "gum"?
"gum" is spelled G-U-M. The IPA pronunciation is /ɡʌm/.
What does "gum" mean?
As a noun, "gum" means: The flesh around the teeth.
What words are commonly confused with "gum"?
"gum" is commonly confused with "guy", "gun", "gym". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "gum"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "gum" is /ɡʌm/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "gum"?
From Middle English gom, gome, gomme, goome, gum, gume, gumme, from Old English gōma (“palate”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōmō, from Proto-Germanic *gaumô, *gōmô (“palate”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₂- (“to gape, yawn”). Cognates Cognate wit... See the full etymology section above for more details.
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 "gum", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

jun#7,805Lou#7,811cox#7,783SCI#7,845

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list