GramvsgrobTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#39,975
“Gram” frequency rank
#5,843
“grob” frequency rank
45818
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Gram grob
Definition tiefer Kummer unfein, unbehauen, unbearbeitet, unrein von Stoffen, Oberflächen und Material, ungenau, unscharf

Where the eye mixes Gram and grob

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Gram
4 ch
grob

Why the eye confuses Gram with grob

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Gram is [ɡʁaːm] while grob is [ɡʁoːp]. 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 45818, 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]. grob is at rank #5,843, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡʁoːp].

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 45818, this pair ranks #1,340,223 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Gram vs grob

Shared letters: gr. Private to "Gram": am. Private to "grob": bo.

"Gram" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "grob" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Gramgarm · ggram · grma · grram · rgam
  • grobggrob · gorb · grbo · grobb · grrob · rgob

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Gram" and "grob" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Gram" is a noun and "grob" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "Gram" vs "grob" - which ranks higher?
"grob" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,843 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Gram" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grob" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,340,223 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Gram" and "grob" 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 #1,340,223 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