grandvsgrayConfusable pair

Which to use

“grand” and “gray” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,205
“grand” frequency rank
#16,443
“gray” frequency rank
20648
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grand gray
Definition von überdurchschnittlicher Höhe: groß, hoch US-amerikanisch: zwischen schwarz und weiß, von ähnlicher Farbe wie Wolken bei Regen

Where the eye mixes grand and gray

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
grand
4 ch
gray

Visual trap between grand and gray

A purely visual mix-up. grand ([ɡrɑ̃]) and gray ([ɡɹeɪ]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20648, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grand is recorded at frequency rank #4,205, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡrɑ̃]. gray is at rank #16,443, 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 20648, this pair ranks #1,895,344 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grand vs gray

Shared letters: agr. Private to "grand": dn. Private to "gray": y.

"grand" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "gray" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grandgarnd · ggrand · gradn · grandd · grannd · grnad · grrand · rgand
  • grayggray · grayy · grray · grya · rgay

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "grand" for "gray" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ɡrɑ̃] versus [ɡɹeɪ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "grand" or "gray" show up more?
"grand" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,205 in our German list, against #16,443 for "gray". 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 "grand" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gray" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,895,344 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grand" and "gray" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gao vs gray". 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 #1,895,344 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