GravesvsgriesConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#46,001
“Graves” frequency rank
#47,460
“gries” frequency rank
93461
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Graves gries
Definition Nominativ Plural des Substantivs Grave grau, grauhaarig oder trübe beim Wetter

Where the eye mixes Graves and gries

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. Graves runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against gries's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
Graves
5 ch
gries

Look-alike desk: Graves vs gries

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Graves is [ˈɡʁaːvəs] while gries is [ɡʁiːs]. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 93461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Graves is recorded at frequency rank #46,001, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡʁaːvəs]. gries is at rank #47,460, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡʁiːs].

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 93461, this pair ranks #22,676 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Graves vs gries

Shared letters: egrs. Private to "Graves": av. Private to "gries": i.

"Graves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "gries" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Graves ← garves · ggraves · graevs · gravess · gravse · gravves · grraves · grvaes
  • gries ← ggries · gires · griess · grise · grries · rgies

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "Graves" and "gries" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Graves" is a noun and "gries" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "Graves" or "gries" show up more?
"Graves" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46,001 in our German list, against #47,460 for "gries". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Graves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gries" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,676 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Graves" and "gries" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grave vs Graves". 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 #22,676 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