gradevsgrauesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#1,970
“grade” frequency rank
#32,066
“graues” frequency rank
34036
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grade graues
Definition (Schul-)Note Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs grau

Where the eye mixes grade and graues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
grade
6 ch
graues

Why the eye confuses grade with graues

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grade is [ɡɹeɪd] while graues is [ˈɡʁaʊ̯əs]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34036, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grade is recorded at frequency rank #1,970, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡɹeɪd]. graues is at rank #32,066, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡʁaʊ̯əs].

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 34036, this pair ranks #1,672,429 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grade vs graues

Shared letters: aegr. Private to "grade": d. Private to "graues": su.

"grade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "graues" · 6 letters · shape CCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gradeggrade · gradde · graed · grdae · grrade · rgade
  • grauesgarues · ggraues · graeus · grauess · grause · grraues · gruaes · rgaues

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "grade" for "graues" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grade" is a noun and "graues" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "grade" or "graues"?
"grade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,970 in our German list, against #32,066 for "graues". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "graues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,672,429 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grade" and "graues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "graues 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 #1,672,429 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