guíanvsgulaConfusable pair

Quick tell: guían is a verb, gula is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“guían” is a verb and “gula” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,237
“guían” frequency rank
#40,329
“gula” frequency rank
72566
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature guían gula
Definition Tercera persona del plural (ellos, ellas; ustedes, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de guiar o de guiarse. Exceso en la comida o bebida, y apetito desordenado de comer y beber.

Where the eye mixes guían and gula

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
guían
4 ch
gula

Visual trap between guían and gula

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: guían is [ˈgiãn] while gula is [ˈgula]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

guían is recorded at frequency rank #32,237, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈgiãn]. gula is at rank #40,329, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈgula].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 72566, this pair ranks #25,095 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of guían vs gula

Shared letters: agu. Private to "guían": . Private to "gula": l.

"guían" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "gula" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gulaggula · glua · gual · gulla · ugla

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "guían" for "gula" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "guían" is a verb and "gula" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "guían" or "gula"?
"guían" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,237 in our Spanish list, against #40,329 for "gula". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "guían" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gula" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #25,095 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "guían" and "gula" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "guan vs gula". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #25,095 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list