fritesvsgradesTell them apart

Quick tell: frites is a noun, grades is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“frites” is a noun and “grades” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#39,355
“frites” frequency rank
#15,903
“grades” frequency rank
55258
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature frites grades
Definition Deutsch: Fritte, Fritten 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs grade

Letter map: frites vs grades

Shared letters muted; letters that set frites and grades apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. frites and grades follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
frites
6 ch
grades

Grammar separator: frites vs grades

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: frites is anoun and gradesaverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55258, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

frites is recorded at frequency rank #39,355, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. grades is at rank #15,903, tagged as averb, pronounced […].

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 55258, this pair ranks #986,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of frites vs grades

Shared letters: ers. Private to "frites": fit. Private to "grades": adg.

"frites" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "grades" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • frites ← ffrites · firtes · friets · fritess · fritse · frittes · frrites · frties
  • grades ← gardes · ggrades · graddes · gradess · gradse · graeds · grdaes · grrades

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "frites" for "grades" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "frites" is a noun and "grades" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "frites" vs "grades" - which ranks higher?
"grades" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,903 in our German list, against #39,355 for "frites". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "frites" vs "grades" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "frites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grades" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #986,558 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "frites" and "grades" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "frites vs puzzles". 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 #986,558 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list