godevsgongWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#26,024
“gode” frequency rank
#25,337
“gong” frequency rank
51361
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gode gong
Definition Godemichet. Percussion d’Extrême-Orient, composée d’un disque de métal dont on tire des sons retentissants en le frappant avec une baguette garnie de peau.

Where the eye mixes gode and gong

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gode
4 ch
gong

Why the eye confuses gode with gong

A purely visual mix-up. gode (\ɡɔd\) and gong (\ɡɔ̃ɡ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51361, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gode is recorded at frequency rank #26,024, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡɔd\. gong is at rank #25,337, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡɔ̃ɡ\.

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 51361, this pair ranks #155,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gode vs gong

Shared letters: go. Private to "gode": de. Private to "gong": n.

"gode" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "gong" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • godegdoe · ggode · godde · goed · ogde
  • gongggong · gnog · gogn · gongg · gonng · ogng

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gode" for "gong" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɡɔd\ versus \ɡɔ̃ɡ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gode" or "gong"?
"gong" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,337 in our French list, against #26,024 for "gode". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gong" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #155,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gode" and "gong" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glue vs gode". 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 #155,613 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