GramvsgreyConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#39,975
“Gram” frequency rank
#10,862
“grey” frequency rank
50837
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gram grey
Definition tiefer Kummer zwischen schwarz und weiß, von ähnlicher Farbe wie dunkle Regenwolken oder Asche

Where the eye mixes Gram and grey

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Gram (CCVC) and grey (CCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Gram
4 ch
grey

Visual trap between Gram and grey

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gram is [ɡʁaːm] while grey is [ɡɹeɪ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50837, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Gram is recorded at frequency rank #39,975, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡʁaːm]. grey is at rank #10,862, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡɹeɪ].

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 50837, this pair ranks #1,158,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gram vs grey

Shared letters: gr. Private to "Gram": am. Private to "grey": ey.

"Gram" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "grey" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gram ← garm · ggram · grma · grram · rgam
  • grey ← gery · ggrey · greyy · grrey · grye · rgey

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gram" and "grey" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gram" is a noun and "grey" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Gram" or "grey"?
"grey" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,862 in our German list, against #39,975 for "Gram". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gram" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,158,504 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gram" and "grey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gao vs Gram". 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 #1,158,504 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