goldvsgomaTell them apart

Quick tell: gold is a adjective, goma is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#7,161
“gold” frequency rank
#19,450
“goma” frequency rank
26611
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gold goma
Definition da cor de ouro exsudação das plantas de aspecto viscoso e transparente

Where the eye mixes gold and goma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. gold (CVCC) and goma (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
gold
4 ch
goma

Visual trap between gold and goma

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gold is /gəʊld/ ouvir^(fonte ?) while goma is /ˈɡo.mɐ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26611, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gold is recorded at frequency rank #7,161, classified as anadj, pronounced /gəʊld/ ouvir^(fonte ?). goma is at rank #19,450, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡo.mɐ/.

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 26611, this pair ranks #42,513 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gold vs goma

Shared letters: go. Private to "gold": dl. Private to "goma": am.

"gold" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "goma" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gold ← ggold · glod · godl · goldd · golld · ogld
  • goma ← ggoma · gmoa · goam · gomma · ogma

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gold" and "goma" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gold" is an adjective and "goma" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gold" or "goma"?
"gold" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,161 in our Portuguese list, against #19,450 for "goma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gold" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "goma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #42,513 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gold" and "goma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "goma vs grua". 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 #42,513 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list