Which to use
“grade” is a noun and “grave” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,970
- “grade” frequency rank
- #48,941
- “grave” frequency rank
- 50911
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grade | grave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | (Schul-)Note | langsam und ernst, feierlich |
Where the eye mixes grade and grave
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between grade and grave
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grade is [ɡɹeɪd] while grave is [ˈɡʁaːvə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - d in “grade” becomes v in “grave”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50911, 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]. grave is at rank #48,941, tagged as anadv, pronounced [ˈɡʁaːvə].
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 50911, this pair ranks #1,155,657 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of grade vs grave
Shared letters: aegr. Private to "grade": d. Private to "grave": v.
"grade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "grade" and "grave" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "grade" or "grave" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "grade" and "grave" 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 "grave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,155,657 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grade" and "grave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "graut 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 #1,155,657 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.