granvsgrenzWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gran is a adjective, grenz is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gran” is an adjective and “grenz” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#13,386
“gran” frequency rank
#34,142
“grenz” frequency rank
47528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gran grenz
Definition groß, hochgewachsen 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs grenzen

Letter map: gran vs grenz

Shared letters muted; letters that set gran and grenz apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
gran
5 ch
grenz

Role in the sentence - gran and grenz

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: gran is anadjective and grenzaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gran is recorded at frequency rank #13,386, classified as anadj, pronounced […]. grenz is at rank #34,142, tagged as averb, pronounced [ɡʁɛnt͡s].

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 47528, this pair ranks #1,281,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gran vs grenz

Shared letters: gnr. Private to "gran": a. Private to "grenz": ez.

"gran" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "grenz" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • granggran · grann · grna · grran · rgan
  • grenzgernz · ggrenz · grennz · grenzz · grezn · grnez · grrenz · rgenz

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gran" for "grenz" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gran" is an adjective and "grenz" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "gran" or "grenz" show up more?
"gran" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,386 in our German list, against #34,142 for "grenz". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "gran" and "grenz".

  • Full dictionary entry for "gran" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grenz" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,281,130 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gran" and "grenz" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "greco vs grenz". 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 #1,281,130 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