gonvsguiConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,319
“gon” frequency rank
#21,335
“gui” frequency rank
59654
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gon gui
Definition Grade, unité de mesure d’angle plan. Plante verte hémiparasite et épiphyte à tiges articulées dichotomiques et à baies globuleuses qui croissent sur les branches de certains arbres, grâce à leur suçoir conique (ou haustorium) et dont les graines collantes sont disséminées par divers oiseaux.

Where the eye mixes gon and gui

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
gon
3 ch
gui

Visual trap between gon and gui

A purely visual mix-up. gon (\ɡɔ̃\) and gui (\ɡi\) 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 59654, 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\. gui is at rank #21,335, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡi\.

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 59654, this pair ranks #101,949 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gon vs gui

Shared letters: g. Private to "gon": no. Private to "gui": iu.

"gon" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "gui" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gon" and "gui" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɡɔ̃\ versus \ɡi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gon" vs "gui" - which ranks higher?
"gui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,335 in our French list, against #38,319 for "gon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "gui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #101,949 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gon" and "gui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gon vs gx". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #101,949 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