Grate or great?
grate is a noun meaning “A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall…”; great is an adjective meaning “Taking much space; large”. Use grate as a noun and great as an adjective (great is also a noun: “A person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim”). They sound the same (/ˈɡɹeɪt/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) great is about 513 times as common as grate.
What is the difference between grate and great?
| grate | great | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb, adjective | adjective, interjection, noun, adverb, prefix |
| Meaning | A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot A frame or bed, or kind of basket, of iron bars, for holding fuel while burning To furnish with grates; to protect with a grating or crossbars | Taking much space; large Much, more than usual Expression of gladness and content about something |
| Example | The grate stopped the sheep from escaping from their field | great worry |
| Forms | grates | greater, greatest |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɡɹeɪt/ /ˈɡɹɛjt/ /ˈɡɹæɪt/ | /ˈɡɹeɪt/ /ˈɡɹɛjt/ /ˈɡɹæɪt/ |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words | 759 times per million words |
Sources: grate and great 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 grate and great
grate
- 1
A horizontal metal grill through which liquid, ash, or small objects can fall, while larger objects cannot
The grate stopped the sheep from escaping from their field
- 2
To furnish with grates; to protect with a grating or crossbars
to grate a window
- 3
To shred (things, usually foodstuffs), by rubbing across a grater
I need to grate the cheese before the potato is cooked
- 4
A frame or bed, or kind of basket, of iron bars, for holding fuel while burning
- 5
To make an unpleasant rasping sound, often as the result of rubbing against something
- 6
A grapper, a metal ring on a lance behind the grip
- 7
To get on one's nerves; to irritate, annoy
She’s nice enough, but she can begin to grate if there is no-one else to talk to
- 8
To annoy
great
- 1
Taking much space; large
- 2
Expression of gladness and content about something
Great! Thanks for the wonderful work
- 3
A person of major significance, accomplishment or acclaim
Newton and Einstein are two of the greats of the history of science
- 4
informalVery well (in a very satisfactory manner)
Those mechanical colored pencils work great because they don’t have to be sharpened
- 5
With familial designations, used to denote a removal of one generation
great-uncle (an uncle of one's mother or father)
- 6
Much, more than usual
great worry
- 7
A sarcastic inversion thereof
Oh, great! I just dumped all 500 sheets of the manuscript all over and now I have to put them back in order
- 8
The main division in a pipe organ, usually the loudest division
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, grate or great?
grate appears 1.5 times per million words; great 759 times per million words.
grate 1.5 times per million wordsgreat 759 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search grate vs great?
“grate vs great” is searched about 320 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“great vs grate”, “grate or great”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.