Which to use
“gained” is a verb and “grained” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,061
- “gained” frequency rank
- #32,417
- “grained” frequency rank
- 35478
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gained | grained |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of gain | Having a grain or grains. |
Letter map: gained vs grained
Shared letters muted; letters that set gained and grained apart highlighted. Shared run: 6.
Role in the sentence - gained and grained
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: gained is averb and grainedanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gained is recorded at frequency rank #3,061, classified as averb, pronounced /ɡeɪnd/. grained is at rank #32,417, tagged as anadj.
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 35478, this pair ranks #311,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gained vs grained
Shared letters: adegin. Private to "gained": -. Private to "grained": r.
"gained" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "grained" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gained" for "grained" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "gained" or "grained" show up more?
What to do next
You've compared "gained" and "grained". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "gained" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grained" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #311,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gained" and "grained" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grained vs groaned". 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 #311,584 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.