gearvsGradTell them apart

Which to use

“gear” and “Grad” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#21,261
“gear” frequency rank
#928
“Grad” frequency rank
22189
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gear Grad
Definition Getriebe das Ausmaß, das Viel oder Wenig einer Eigenschaft oder eines Zustandes

Where the eye mixes gear and Grad

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

4 ch
gear
4 ch
Grad

Visual trap between gear and Grad

A purely visual mix-up. gear ([ɡɪɚ]) and Grad ([ɡʁaːt]) 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 22189, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gear is recorded at frequency rank #21,261, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡɪɚ]. Grad is at rank #928, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡʁaːt].

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 22189, this pair ranks #1,877,218 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gear vs Grad

Shared letters: agr. Private to "gear": e. Private to "Grad": d.

"gear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Grad" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gearegar · gaer · gearr · ggear
  • Gradgard · ggrad · gradd · grda · grrad · rgad

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gear" for "Grad" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡɪɚ] versus [ɡʁaːt]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gear" vs "Grad" - which ranks higher?
"Grad" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #928 in our German list, against #21,261 for "gear". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Grad" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,877,218 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gear" and "Grad" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gao vs gear". 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 #1,877,218 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