grapevsgratesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,222
“grape” frequency rank
#43,675
“grates” frequency rank
54897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grape grates
Definition A small, round, smooth-skinned edible fruit, usually purple, red, or green, that grows in bunches on vines of genus Vitis. plural of grate

Where the eye mixes grape and grates

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

5 ch
grape
6 ch
grates

Look-alike desk: grape vs grates

A purely visual mix-up. grape (/ɡɹeɪp/) 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 54897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grape is recorded at frequency rank #11,222, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪp/. 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 54897, this pair ranks #137,640 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grape vs grates

Shared letters: aegr. Private to "grape": p. Private to "grates": st.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grapegarpe · ggrape · graep · grappe · grpae · grrape · rgape
  • gratesgartes · ggrates · gratess · gratse · grattes · grrates · grtaes · rgates

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grape" and "grates" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹeɪp/ versus /ɡɹeɪts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "grape" or "grates" show up more?
"grape" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,222 in our English list, against #43,675 for "grates". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "grape" 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 #137,640 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grape" 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 #137,640 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