grenzvsGrundWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: grenz is a verb, Grund is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“grenz” is a verb and “Grund” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,142
“grenz” frequency rank
#378
“Grund” frequency rank
34520
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grenz Grund
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs grenzen Ereignis, welches ein Darauffolgendes hervorgerufen hat

Where the eye mixes grenz and Grund

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. grenz and Grund follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
grenz
5 ch
Grund

Look-alike desk: grenz vs Grund

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grenz is [ɡʁɛnt͡s] while Grund is [ɡʁʊnt]. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grenz is recorded at frequency rank #34,142, classified as averb, pronounced [ɡʁɛnt͡s]. Grund is at rank #378, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡʁʊnt].

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 34520, this pair ranks #1,661,476 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grenz vs Grund

Shared letters: gnr. Private to "grenz": ez. Private to "Grund": du.

"grenz" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "Grund" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grenz ← gernz · ggrenz · grennz · grenzz · grezn · grnez · grrenz · rgenz
  • Grund ← ggrund · grnud · grrund · grudn · grundd · grunnd · gurnd · rgund

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "grenz" and "Grund" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grenz" is a verb and "Grund" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "grenz" or "Grund"?
"Grund" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #378 in our German list, against #34,142 for "grenz". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "grenz" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Grund" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,661,476 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grenz" and "Grund" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "greco vs grenz". 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 #1,661,476 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