Grading or grating?
grading is a noun meaning “A rank or grade”; grating is an adjective meaning “Harsh and unpleasant”. Use grading as a noun and grating as an adjective (grating is also a noun: “A barrier that has parallel or crossed bars blocking a…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) grading is about 2.1 times as common as grating.
What is the difference between grading and grating?
| grading | grating | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | adjective, noun, verb |
| Meaning | A rank or grade Gradation | Harsh and unpleasant Annoying; tending to annoy A barrier that has parallel or crossed bars blocking a passage but admitting air |
| Example | Today is my first grading exam | grating vocals |
| Forms | gradings | none |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɡɹeɪdɪŋ/ | /ˈɡɹeɪtɪŋ/ [ˈɡɹeɪ̯ɾɪŋ] |
| In writing | 3.0 times per million words | 1.4 times per million words |
Sources: grading and grating in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of grading and grating
grading
- 1
A rank or grade
- 2
Gradation
- 3
The act of reshaping the contour of the landscape so as to provide rainwater drainage around buildings, create lawns and gardens, prepare roadbeds, and so on
- 4
Ellipsis of grading period
Today is my first grading exam
grating
- 1
Harsh and unpleasant
grating vocals
- 2
A barrier that has parallel or crossed bars blocking a passage but admitting air
- 3
Annoying; tending to annoy
- 4
A frame of iron bars to hold a fire
- 5
The loose material that comes from something being grated
Add a few gratings of nutmeg to the hot milk
- 6
An optical system of close equidistant and parallel lines or bars, especially lines ruled on a polished surface, used for producing spectra by diffraction
- 7
The strong wooden lattice used to cover a hatch, admitting light and air; also, a movable lattice used for the flooring of boats
- 8
The sound made by something that grates against something else
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, grading or grating?
grading appears 3.0 times per million words; grating 1.4 times per million words.
grading 3.0 times per million wordsgrating 1.4 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).