gladvsgrandWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,342
“glad” frequency rank
#1,306
“grand” frequency rank
2648
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature glad grand
Definition Pleased; happy; gratified. Large, senior (high-ranking), intense, extreme, or exceptional

Where the eye mixes glad and grand

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

4 ch
glad
5 ch
grand

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. glad (/ɡlæd/) and grand (/ɡɹænd/) 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 2648, 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/. grand is at rank #1,306, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɡɹænd/.

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 2648, this pair ranks #524,422 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of glad vs grand

Shared letters: adg. Private to "glad": l. Private to "grand": nr.

"glad" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "grand" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gladgald · gglad · gladd · glda · gllad · lgad
  • grandgarnd · ggrand · gradn · grandd · grannd · grnad · grrand · rgand

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "glad" and "grand" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡlæd/ versus /ɡɹænd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "glad" or "grand"?
"grand" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,306 in our English list, against #1,342 for "glad". 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