gracevsgratesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,680
“grace” frequency rank
#43,675
“grates” frequency rank
46355
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grace grates
Definition Charming, pleasing qualities. plural of grate

Where the eye mixes grace and grates

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
grace
6 ch
grates

Visual trap between grace and grates

A purely visual mix-up. grace (/ɡɹeɪs/) and grates (/ɡɹeɪts/) 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 46355, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grace is recorded at frequency rank #2,680, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪs/. grates is at rank #43,675, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪts/.

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 46355, this pair ranks #212,568 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grace vs grates

Shared letters: aegr. Private to "grace": c. Private to "grates": st.

"grace" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "grates" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gracegarce · ggrace · gracce · graec · grcae · grrace · rgace
  • gratesgartes · ggrates · gratess · gratse · grattes · grrates · grtaes · rgates

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grace" and "grates" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹeɪs/ versus /ɡɹeɪts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "grace" vs "grates" - which ranks higher?
"grace" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,680 in our English list, against #43,675 for "grates". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "grace" and "grates" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #212,568 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grace" and "grates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gazes vs grates". 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 #212,568 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