Which to use
“gon” and “gong” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,319
- “gon” frequency rank
- #25,337
- “gong” frequency rank
- 63656
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gon | gong |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Grade, unité de mesure d’angle plan. | 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 gon and gong
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gon runs 3 letters (CVC) against gong's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: gon vs gong
A purely visual mix-up. gon (\ɡɔ̃\) 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 differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “gon” sits inside “gong”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63656, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gon is recorded at frequency rank #38,319, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡɔ̃\. 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 63656, this pair ranks #80,856 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of gon vs gong
Shared letters: gno. Private to "gon": -. Private to "gong": -.
"gon" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "gong" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- gong ← ggong · gnog · gogn · gongg · gonng · ogng
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gon" for "gong" ever safe?
Frequency check: "gon" vs "gong" - which ranks higher?
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 "gon" 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 #80,856 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gon" and "gong" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gon vs gx". 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 #80,856 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.