gramsvsgrossWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,339
“grams” frequency rank
#3,305
“gross” frequency rank
12644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grams gross
Definition plural of gram Highly or conspicuously offensive.

Letter map: grams vs gross

Shared letters muted; letters that set grams and gross apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
grams
5 ch
gross

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: grams is anoun and grossanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grams is recorded at frequency rank #9,339, classified as anoun. gross is at rank #3,305, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɡɹəʊs/.

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 12644, this pair ranks #480,357 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grams vs gross

Shared letters: grs. Private to "grams": am. Private to "gross": o.

"grams" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "gross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gramsgarms · ggrams · gramms · gramss · grasm · grmas · grrams · rgams
  • grossggross · gorss · gros · grross · grsos · rgoss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grams" and "gross" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grams" is a noun and "gross" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "grams" or "gross"?
"gross" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,305 in our English list, against #9,339 for "grams". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list