grailvsgramWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#15,823
“grail” frequency rank
#10,219
“gram” frequency rank
26042
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grail gram
Definition The Holy Grail. A unit of mass equal to one-thousandth of a kilogram. Symbol: g.

Where the eye mixes grail and gram

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

5 ch
grail
4 ch
gram

Look-alike desk: grail vs gram

A purely visual mix-up. grail (/ɡɹeɪl/) and gram (/ˈɡɹæm/) 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 26042, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grail is recorded at frequency rank #15,823, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪl/. gram is at rank #10,219, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɹæm/.

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 26042, this pair ranks #389,653 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grail vs gram

Shared letters: agr. Private to "grail": il. Private to "gram": m.

"grail" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "gram" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grailgaril · ggrail · graill · grali · grial · grrail · rgail
  • gramgarm · ggram · gramm · grma · grram · rgam

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "grail" and "gram" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹeɪl/ versus /ˈɡɹæm/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "grail" or "gram"?
"gram" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,219 in our English list, against #15,823 for "grail". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grail" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gram" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #389,653 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grail" and "gram" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gnaw vs gram". 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 #389,653 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