Do they mean the same thing? What situations should I use one over the other?
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kanji
What is the difference between 都市 and 郷?
都市 is a little stiff word that means "city" or "urban area". See: [What is the
difference between 市, 都市, 都会 and
市街](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/48973/5010)

郷【ごう】 is an uncommon word that roughly means "countryside", "country town",
"town", etc. It's also a rare name suffix for small districts in some
towns/villages. Practically speaking, you probably don't need this word
outside of [this common
idiom](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/28530/5010).

**EDIT:** -郷【きょう】 is a rare suffix that roughly means "village" or "town". You
would see it only in a few fixed compounds including
[温泉郷](https://jisho.org/word/%E6%B8%A9%E6%B3%89%E9%83%B7).
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answer