gommesvsgossesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,322
“gommes” frequency rank
#4,861
“gosses” frequency rank
44183
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gommes gosses
Definition Pluriel de gomme. Pluriel de gosse.

Where the eye mixes gommes and gosses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
gommes
6 ch
gosses

Visual trap between gommes and gosses

A purely visual mix-up. gommes (\ɡɔm\) and gosses (\ɡɔs\) 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 44183, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gommes is recorded at frequency rank #39,322, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡɔm\. gosses is at rank #4,861, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡɔs\.

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 44183, this pair ranks #212,402 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gommes vs gosses

Shared letters: egos. Private to "gommes": m. Private to "gosses": -.

"gommes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "gosses" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gommesggommes · gmomes · gomems · gommess · gommse · ogmmes
  • gossesggosses · gosess · gossess · gossse · gsoses · ogsses

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gommes" and "gosses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɡɔm\ versus \ɡɔs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gommes" or "gosses"?
"gosses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,861 in our French list, against #39,322 for "gommes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gommes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gosses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #212,402 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gommes" and "gosses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gomis vs gommes". 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 #212,402 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