grauevsGrazerTell them apart

Quick tell: graue is a adjective, Grazer is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#8,723
“graue” frequency rank
#15,113
“Grazer” frequency rank
23836
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature graue Grazer
Definition Nominativ Singular Femininum Positiv der starken Flexion des Adjektivs grau Einwohner der Stadt Graz

Where the eye mixes graue and Grazer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
graue
6 ch
Grazer

Visual trap between graue and Grazer

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: graue is [ˈɡʁaʊ̯ə] while Grazer is [ˈɡʁaːt͡sɐ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

graue is recorded at frequency rank #8,723, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈɡʁaʊ̯ə]. Grazer is at rank #15,113, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡʁaːt͡sɐ].

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 23836, this pair ranks #1,855,986 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of graue vs Grazer

Shared letters: aegr. Private to "graue": u. Private to "Grazer": z.

"graue" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV  ·  "Grazer" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grauegarue · ggraue · graeu · grraue · gruae · rgaue
  • Grazergarzer · ggrazer · graezr · grazerr · grazre · grazzer · grrazer · grzaer

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "graue" for "Grazer" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "graue" is an adjective and "Grazer" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "graue" vs "Grazer" - which ranks higher?
"graue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,723 in our German list, against #15,113 for "Grazer". 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 "graue" and "Grazer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "graue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Grazer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,855,986 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "graue" and "Grazer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grave vs Grazer". 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 #1,855,986 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