Which to use
“gun” and “guys” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,153
- “gun” frequency rank
- #24,230
- “guys” frequency rank
- 39383
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gun | guys |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pistolet, flingue. | Pluriel de guy. |
Where the eye mixes gun and guys
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses gun with guys
A purely visual mix-up. gun (\ɡœn\) and guys (\ɡaɪz\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gun is recorded at frequency rank #15,153, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡœn\. guys is at rank #24,230, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡaɪz\.
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 39383, this pair ranks #248,379 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gun vs guys
Shared letters: gu. Private to "gun": n. Private to "guys": sy.
"gun" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "guys" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- guys ← gguys · gusy · guyss · guyys · gyus · ugys
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gun" for "guys" ever safe?
Frequency check: "gun" vs "guys" - which ranks higher?
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 "gun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "guys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #248,379 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gun" and "guys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gods vs guys". 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 #248,379 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.