grobvsgroupWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: grob is a adjective, group is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“grob” is an adjective and “group” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,843
“grob” frequency rank
#4,206
“group” frequency rank
10049
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grob group
Definition unfein, unbehauen, unbearbeitet, unrein von Stoffen, Oberflächen und Material, ungenau, unscharf Gruppe

Where the eye mixes grob and group

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
grob
5 ch
group

Look-alike desk: grob vs group

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grob is [ɡʁoːp] while group is [ɡruːp]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10049, 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]. group is at rank #4,206, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɡruːp].

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 10049, this pair ranks #1,977,031 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grob vs group

Shared letters: gor. Private to "grob": b. Private to "group": pu.

"grob" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "group" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grobggrob · gorb · grbo · grobb · grrob · rgob
  • groupggroup · gorup · gropu · groupp · grroup · gruop · rgoup

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "grob" for "group" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grob" is an adjective and "group" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "grob" or "group"?
"group" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,206 in our German list, against #5,843 for "grob". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "grob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "group" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,977,031 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grob" and "group" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gao vs grob". 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 #1,977,031 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