griffevsGrilleWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#32,574
“griffe” frequency rank
#47,461
“Grille” frequency rank
80035
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature griffe Grille
Definition 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv II Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs greifen durch zirpende Laute auffallendes Insekt (Familie Gryllidae)

Where the eye mixes griffe and Grille

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

6 ch
griffe
6 ch
Grille

Why the eye confuses griffe with Grille

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: griffe is [ˈɡʁɪfə] while Grille is [ˈɡʁɪlə]. 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 80035, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

griffe is recorded at frequency rank #32,574, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡʁɪfə]. Grille is at rank #47,461, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡʁɪlə].

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 80035, this pair ranks #203,857 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of griffe vs Grille

Shared letters: egir. Private to "griffe": f. Private to "Grille": l.

"griffe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Grille" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • griffeggriffe · girffe · grfife · grife · grifef · grriffe · rgiffe
  • Grilleggrille · girlle · grile · grilel · grlile · grrille · rgille

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "griffe" and "Grille" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "griffe" is a verb and "Grille" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "griffe" or "Grille" show up more?
"griffe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,574 in our German list, against #47,461 for "Grille". 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 "griffe" and "Grille" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "griffe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Grille" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #203,857 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "griffe" and "Grille" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Grille vs grillo". 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 #203,857 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