grabevsgranConfusable pair

Quick tell: grabe is a verb, gran is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“grabe” is a verb and “gran” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,633
“grabe” frequency rank
#13,386
“gran” frequency rank
35019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grabe gran
Definition 1. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs graben groß, hochgewachsen

Letter map: grabe vs gran

Shared letters muted; letters that set grabe and gran apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
grabe
4 ch
gran

Role in the sentence - grabe and gran

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: grabe is averb and grananadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grabe is recorded at frequency rank #21,633, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡʁaːbə]. gran is at rank #13,386, tagged as anadj, 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 35019, this pair ranks #1,649,964 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grabe vs gran

Shared letters: agr. Private to "grabe": be. Private to "gran": n.

"grabe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "gran" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grabegarbe · ggrabe · grabbe · graeb · grbae · grrabe · rgabe
  • granggran · grann · grna · grran · rgan

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "grabe" and "gran" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grabe" is a verb and "gran" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "grabe" or "gran" show up more?
"gran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,386 in our German list, against #21,633 for "grabe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "grabe" vs "gran" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gran" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,649,964 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grabe" and "gran" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grabe vs grave". 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 #1,649,964 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