grayvsGuamWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“gray” and “Guam” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,365
“gray” frequency rank
#46,359
“Guam” frequency rank
56724
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gray Guam
Definition unidade no Sistema Internacional de medidas, representado por Gy, que representa a quantidade de energia de radiação ionizante absorvida (ou dose) por unidade de massa, e é definido como a quantidade que deposita 1 joule (J) de energia por quilograma (kg) do meio absorvedor, sendo 1 Gy = 1 J/kg Guam

Where the eye mixes gray and Guam

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
gray
4 ch
Guam

Look-alike desk: gray vs Guam

A purely visual mix-up. gray (/'greɪ/) and Guam (/ɡwam/) 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 56724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gray is recorded at frequency rank #10,365, classified as anoun, pronounced /'greɪ/. Guam is at rank #46,359, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡwam/.

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 56724, this pair ranks #9,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gray vs Guam

Shared letters: ag. Private to "gray": ry. Private to "Guam": mu.

"gray" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "Guam" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • graygary · ggray · grayy · grray · grya · rgay
  • Guamgaum · gguam · guamm · guma · ugam

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gray" and "Guam" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/'greɪ/ versus /ɡwam/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gray" or "Guam"?
"gray" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,365 in our Portuguese list, against #46,359 for "Guam". 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 "gray" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Guam" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,787 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gray" and "Guam" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grua vs Guam". 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 #9,787 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