gradesvsproofWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: grades is a verb, proof is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“grades” is a verb and “proof” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,903
“grades” frequency rank
#32,721
“proof” frequency rank
48624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grades proof
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs grade Beweis, Beweismittel

Letter map: grades vs proof

Shared letters muted; letters that set grades and proof apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. grades runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against proof's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
grades
5 ch
proof

Role in the sentence - grades and proof

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: grades is averb and proofanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grades is recorded at frequency rank #15,903, classified as averb, pronounced […]. proof is at rank #32,721, tagged as anoun, 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 48624, this pair ranks #1,241,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grades vs proof

Shared letters: r. Private to "grades": adegs. Private to "proof": fop.

"grades" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "proof" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gradesgardes · ggrades · graddes · gradess · gradse · graeds · grdaes · grrades
  • proofporof · pproof · prof · profo · prooff · prroof · rpoof

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grades" and "proof" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grades" is a verb and "proof" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "grades" vs "proof" - which ranks higher?
"grades" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,903 in our German list, against #32,721 for "proof". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "grades" and "proof".

  • Full dictionary entry for "grades" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "proof" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,241,687 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grades" and "proof" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "proof vs puzzles". 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 #1,241,687 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