gabvsGramTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#267
“gab” frequency rank
#39,975
“Gram” frequency rank
40242
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gab Gram
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs geben tiefer Kummer

Where the eye mixes gab and Gram

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

3 ch
gab
4 ch
Gram

Visual trap between gab and Gram

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gab is [ɡaːp] while Gram is [ɡʁaːm]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40242, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gab is recorded at frequency rank #267, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡaːp]. Gram is at rank #39,975, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡʁaːm].

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 40242, this pair ranks #1,514,105 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gab vs Gram

Shared letters: ag. Private to "gab": b. Private to "Gram": mr.

"gab" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "Gram" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gramgarm · ggram · grma · grram · rgam

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gab" for "Gram" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gab" is a verb and "Gram" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gab" or "Gram" show up more?
"gab" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #267 in our German list, against #39,975 for "Gram". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "gab" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gram" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,514,105 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gab" and "Gram" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gao vs Gram". 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 #1,514,105 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