Which to use
“Greis” is a noun and “Grete” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #39,401
- “Greis” frequency rank
- #36,967
- “Grete” frequency rank
- 76368
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Greis | Grete |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | sehr alter Mensch, meist Mann | weiblicher Vorname |
Where the eye mixes Greis and Grete
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Greis (CCVVC) and Grete (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: Greis vs Grete
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Greis is [ɡʁaɪ̯s] while Grete is [ˈɡʁeːtə]. 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 (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Greis is recorded at frequency rank #39,401, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɡʁaɪ̯s]. Grete is at rank #36,967, tagged as aname, pronounced [ˈɡʁeːtə].
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 76368, this pair ranks #285,493 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Greis vs Grete
Shared letters: egr. Private to "Greis": is. Private to "Grete": t.
"Greis" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "Grete" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Greis" and "Grete" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary German text, does "Greis" or "Grete" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Greis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Grete" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #285,493 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Greis" and "Grete" 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 #285,493 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.