gobevsgolfeConfusable pair

Which to use

“gobe” and “golfe” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#47,359
“gobe” frequency rank
#5,984
“golfe” frequency rank
53343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gobe golfe
Definition Variante orthographique de gobbe. Partie de mer plus ou moins vaste, qui entre, qui avance dans les terres, et dont l’ouverture du côté de la mer est ordinairement fort large.

Where the eye mixes gobe and golfe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gobe runs 4 letters (CVCV) against golfe's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
gobe
5 ch
golfe

Visual trap between gobe and golfe

A purely visual mix-up. gobe (\ɡɔb\) and golfe (\ɡɔlf\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gobe is recorded at frequency rank #47,359, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡɔb\. golfe is at rank #5,984, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡɔlf\.

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 53343, this pair ranks #141,370 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gobe vs golfe

Shared letters: ego. Private to "gobe": b. Private to "golfe": fl.

"gobe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "golfe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gobe ← gboe · ggobe · gobbe · goeb · ogbe
  • golfe ← ggolfe · glofe · gofle · golef · golffe · gollfe · oglfe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gobe" and "golfe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɡɔb\ versus \ɡɔlf\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gobe" or "golfe"?
"golfe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,984 in our French list, against #47,359 for "gobe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "gobe" and "golfe" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gobe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "golfe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #141,370 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gobe" and "golfe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glue vs gobe". 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 #141,370 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list