grabsvsgraceWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,704
“grabs” frequency rank
#2,680
“grace” frequency rank
13384
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grabs grace
Definition plural of grab Charming, pleasing qualities.

Where the eye mixes grabs and grace

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

5 ch
grabs
5 ch
grace

Look-alike desk: grabs vs grace

A purely visual mix-up. grabs (/ɡɹæbz/) and grace (/ɡɹeɪs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13384, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grabs is recorded at frequency rank #10,704, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹæbz/. grace is at rank #2,680, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪs/.

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 13384, this pair ranks #476,150 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grabs vs grace

Shared letters: agr. Private to "grabs": bs. Private to "grace": ce.

"grabs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "grace" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grabsgarbs · ggrabs · grabbs · grabss · grasb · grbas · grrabs · rgabs
  • gracegarce · ggrace · gracce · graec · grcae · grrace · rgace

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "grabs" for "grace" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹæbz/ versus /ɡɹeɪs/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "grabs" or "grace" show up more?
"grace" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,680 in our English list, against #10,704 for "grabs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grabs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grace" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #476,150 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grabs" and "grace" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grabs vs grasse". 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 #476,150 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