Which to use
“great” is an adjective and “Greis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,381
- “great” frequency rank
- #39,401
- “Greis” frequency rank
- 47782
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | great | Greis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sehr groß | sehr alter Mensch, meist Mann |
Where the eye mixes great and Greis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between great and Greis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: great is [ɡɹeɪt] while Greis is [ɡʁaɪ̯s]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47782, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
great is recorded at frequency rank #8,381, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡɹeɪt]. Greis is at rank #39,401, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡʁaɪ̯s].
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 47782, this pair ranks #1,272,201 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of great vs Greis
Shared letters: egr. Private to "great": at. Private to "Greis": is.
"great" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "Greis" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "great" and "Greis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "great" or "Greis"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "great" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Greis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,272,201 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "great" and "Greis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "greco vs Greis". 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 #1,272,201 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.