gradevsGrausConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#1,970
“grade” frequency rank
#43,228
“Graus” frequency rank
45198
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grade Graus
Definition (Schul-)Note etwas entsetzlich Fürchterliches

Where the eye mixes grade and Graus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
grade
5 ch
Graus

Why the eye confuses grade with Graus

A purely visual mix-up. grade ([ɡɹeɪd]) and Graus ([ɡʁaʊ̯s]) 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 45198, 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]. Graus is at rank #43,228, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡʁaʊ̯s].

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 45198, this pair ranks #1,361,159 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grade vs Graus

Shared letters: agr. Private to "grade": de. Private to "Graus": su.

"grade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Graus" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gradeggrade · gradde · graed · grdae · grrade · rgade
  • Grausgarus · ggraus · grasu · grauss · grraus · gruas · rgaus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "grade" and "Graus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ɡɹeɪd] versus [ɡʁaʊ̯s]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "grade" or "Graus" show up more?
"grade" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,970 in our German list, against #43,228 for "Graus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "grade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Graus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,361,159 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grade" and "Graus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Graus 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 #1,361,159 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