gazevsGREConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#11,219
“gaze” frequency rank
#29,675
“GRE” frequency rank
40894
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gaze GRE
Definition To stare intently or earnestly. Any edition of the Graduate Record Examination or of any of its Subject Tests.

Letter map: gaze vs GRE

Shared letters muted; letters that set gaze and GRE apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
gaze
3 ch
GRE

Role in the sentence - gaze and GRE

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: gaze is averb and GREanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40894, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gaze is recorded at frequency rank #11,219, classified as averb, pronounced /ɡeɪz/. GRE is at rank #29,675, tagged as anoun.

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 40894, this pair ranks #263,443 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gaze vs GRE

Shared letters: eg. Private to "gaze": az. Private to "GRE": r.

"gaze" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "GRE" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gazeagze · gaez · gazze · ggaze · gzae

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gaze" and "GRE" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gaze" is a verb and "GRE" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "gaze" or "GRE" show up more?
"gaze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,219 in our English list, against #29,675 for "GRE". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pair "gaze" vs "GRE" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gaze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "GRE" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #263,443 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gaze" and "GRE" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gere vs GRE". 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 #263,443 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list