Which to use
“gué” and “gun” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,618
- “gué” frequency rank
- #15,153
- “gun” frequency rank
- 39771
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gué | gun |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Endroit d’une rivière, d’un fleuve où l’eau est assez basse et le fond assez ferme pour qu’on puisse traverser à pied. | Pistolet, flingue. |
Where the eye mixes gué and gun
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. gué (CVV) and gun (CVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between gué and gun
A purely visual mix-up. gué (\ɡe\) and gun (\ɡœn\) 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 a single letter - é in “gué” becomes n in “gun”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39771, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gué is recorded at frequency rank #24,618, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡe\. gun is at rank #15,153, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡœn\.
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 39771, this pair ranks #245,509 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gué vs gun
Shared letters: gu. Private to "gué": é. Private to "gun": n.
"gué" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "gun" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "gué" and "gun" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "gué" or "gun" show up more?
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 "gué" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #245,509 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gué" and "gun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glue vs gué". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #245,509 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.