Which to use
“glad” is an adjective and “grade” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,342
- “glad” frequency rank
- #1,660
- “grade” frequency rank
- 3002
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | glad | grade |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pleased; happy; gratified. | A rating. |
Where the eye mixes glad and grade
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: glad is /ɡlæd/ while grade is /ɡɹeɪd/. 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 3002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
glad is recorded at frequency rank #1,342, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɡlæd/. grade is at rank #1,660, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪd/.
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 3002, this pair ranks #523,407 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of glad vs grade
Shared letters: adg. Private to "glad": l. Private to "grade": er.
"glad" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "grade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV