gatesvsgrapesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“gates” and “grapes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,304
“gates” frequency rank
#10,706
“grapes” frequency rank
15010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gates grapes
Definition plural of gate plural of grape

Where the eye mixes gates and grapes

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

5 ch
gates
6 ch
grapes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. gates (/ɡeɪts/) and grapes (/ɡɹeɪps/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gates is recorded at frequency rank #4,304, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡeɪts/. grapes is at rank #10,706, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪps/.

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 15010, this pair ranks #466,594 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gates vs grapes

Shared letters: aegs. Private to "gates": t. Private to "grapes": pr.

"gates" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "grapes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gatesagtes · gaets · gatess · gatse · gattes · ggates · gtaes
  • grapesgarpes · ggrapes · graeps · grapess · grappes · grapse · grpaes · grrapes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gates" and "grapes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡeɪts/ versus /ɡɹeɪps/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gates" or "grapes"?
"gates" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,304 in our English list, against #10,706 for "grapes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list