goosevsgrossWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: goose is a noun, gross is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“goose” is a noun and “gross” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,978
“goose” frequency rank
#22,579
“gross” frequency rank
54557
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature goose gross
Definition Oie. Variante orthographique de groß.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set goose and gross apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
goose
5 ch
gross

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: goose is \ɡuːs\ while gross is \ɡʀoːs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54557, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

goose is recorded at frequency rank #31,978, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡuːs\. gross is at rank #22,579, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʀoːs\.

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 54557, this pair ranks #133,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of goose vs gross

Shared letters: gos. Private to "goose": e. Private to "gross": r.

"goose" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "gross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gooseggoose · gooes · goosse · gosoe · ogose
  • grossggross · gorss · grross · grsos · rgoss

Frequency comparison

goose#31,978
gross#22,579

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "goose" and "gross" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "goose" is a noun and "gross" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "goose" or "gross"?
"gross" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,579 in our French list, against #31,978 for "goose". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering goose vs gross

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “goose”; for an adjective, it's “gross”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “goose” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list