geradervsgradeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gerader is a adjective, grade is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gerader” is an adjective and “grade” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,576
“gerader” frequency rank
#1,970
“grade” frequency rank
32546
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gerader grade
Definition Nominativ Singular Maskulinum der starken Flexion des Positivs des Adjektivs gerade (Schul-)Note

Where the eye mixes gerader and grade

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
gerader
5 ch
grade

Visual trap between gerader and grade

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gerader is [ɡəˈʁaːdɐ] while grade is [ɡɹeɪd]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32546, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gerader is recorded at frequency rank #30,576, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡəˈʁaːdɐ]. grade is at rank #1,970, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡɹeɪd].

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 32546, this pair ranks #1,705,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gerader vs grade

Shared letters: adegr. Private to "gerader": -. Private to "grade": -.

"gerader" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "grade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • geraderegrader · gearder · geradder · geraderr · geradre · geraedr · gerdaer · gerrader
  • gradeggrade · gradde · graed · grdae · grrade · rgade

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gerader" and "grade" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gerader" is an adjective and "grade" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gerader" or "grade" show up more?
"grade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,970 in our German list, against #30,576 for "gerader". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "gerader" and "grade" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gerader" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grade" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,705,347 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gerader" and "grade" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gemäuer vs gerader". 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 #1,705,347 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