graspedvsgrazedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#28,224
“grasped” frequency rank
#33,259
“grazed” frequency rank
61483
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grasped grazed
Definition simple past and past participle of grasp simple past and past participle of graze

Where the eye mixes grasped and grazed

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. grasped runs 7 letters (CCVCCVC) against grazed's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
grasped
6 ch
grazed

Look-alike desk: grasped vs grazed

A purely visual mix-up. grasped (/ɡɹæspt/) and grazed (/ɡɹeɪzd/) 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 61483, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grasped is recorded at frequency rank #28,224, classified as averb, pronounced /ɡɹæspt/. grazed is at rank #33,259, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɡɹeɪzd/.

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 61483, this pair ranks #93,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of grasped vs grazed

Shared letters: adegr. Private to "grasped": ps. Private to "grazed": z.

"grasped" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "grazed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grasped ← garsped · ggrasped · grapsed · grasepd · graspde · graspedd · graspped · grassped
  • grazed ← garzed · ggrazed · graezd · grazde · grazedd · grazzed · grrazed · grzaed

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "grasped" and "grazed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹæspt/ versus /ɡɹeɪzd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "grasped" vs "grazed" - which ranks higher?
"grasped" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,224 in our English list, against #33,259 for "grazed". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "grasped" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grazed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #93,994 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grasped" and "grazed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glazer vs grazed". 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 #93,994 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