glandsvsgrandWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: glands is a noun, grand is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“glands” is a noun and “grand” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,371
“glands” frequency rank
#1,306
“grand” frequency rank
18677
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature glands grand
Definition plural of gland Large, senior (high-ranking), intense, extreme, or exceptional

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set glands and grand apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
glands
5 ch
grand

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: glands is /ɡlændz/ while grand is /ɡɹænd/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

glands is recorded at frequency rank #17,371, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡlændz/. 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 18677, this pair ranks #443,259 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of glands vs grand

Shared letters: adgn. Private to "glands": ls. Private to "grand": r.

"glands" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC  ·  "grand" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • glandsgalnds · gglands · gladns · glandds · glandss · glannds · glansd · gllands
  • grandgarnd · ggrand · gradn · grandd · grannd · grnad · grrand · rgand

Frequency comparison

glands#17,371
grand#1,306

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "glands" and "grand" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "glands" is a noun and "grand" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "glands" or "grand"?
"grand" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,306 in our English list, against #17,371 for "glands". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering glands vs grand

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “glands”; for an adjective, it's “grand”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “glands” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list