grobvsgrobesTell them apart

Which to use

“grob” and “grobes” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,843
“grob” frequency rank
#41,216
“grobes” frequency rank
47059
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grob grobes
Definition unfein, unbehauen, unbearbeitet, unrein von Stoffen, Oberflächen und Material, ungenau, unscharf Nominativ Singular Neutrum der starken Deklination des Positivs des Adjektivs grob

Where the eye mixes grob and grobes

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

4 ch
grob
6 ch
grobes

Look-alike desk: grob vs grobes

A purely visual mix-up. grob ([ɡʁoːp]) and grobes ([ɡʁoːbəs]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “grob” sits inside “grobes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grob is recorded at frequency rank #5,843, classified as anadj, pronounced [ɡʁoːp]. grobes is at rank #41,216, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ɡʁoːbəs].

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 47059, this pair ranks #1,297,578 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grob vs grobes

Shared letters: bgor. Private to "grob": -. Private to "grobes": es.

"grob" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "grobes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grobggrob · gorb · grbo · grobb · grrob · rgob
  • grobesggrobes · gorbes · grboes · grobbes · grobess · grobse · groebs · grrobes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grob" and "grobes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ɡʁoːp] versus [ɡʁoːbəs]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "grob" vs "grobes" - which ranks higher?
"grob" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,843 in our German list, against #41,216 for "grobes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "grob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grobes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,297,578 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grob" and "grobes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gries vs grobes". 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 #1,297,578 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