Which to use
“grated” is an adjective and “grazed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,769
- “grated” frequency rank
- #33,259
- “grazed” frequency rank
- 58028
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grated | grazed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Produced by grating. | simple past and past participle of graze |
Where the eye mixes grated and grazed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. grated and grazed follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses grated with grazed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grated is /ˈɡɹeɪtɪd/ while grazed is /ɡɹeɪzd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - t in “grated” becomes z in “grazed”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58028, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grated is recorded at frequency rank #24,769, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡɹeɪtɪd/. 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 58028, this pair ranks #115,317 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of grated vs grazed
Shared letters: adegr. Private to "grated": t. Private to "grazed": z.
"grated" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "grazed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "grated" and "grazed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "grated" or "grazed" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "grated" 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 #115,317 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grated" 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 #115,317 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.