Which to use
“grates” and “graze” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,675
- “grates” frequency rank
- #28,225
- “graze” frequency rank
- 71900
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grates | graze |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of grate | The act of grazing; a scratching or injuring lightly on passing. |
Where the eye mixes grates and graze
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: grates vs graze
A purely visual mix-up. grates (/ɡɹeɪts/) and graze (/ɡɹeɪz/) 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 71900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grates is recorded at frequency rank #43,675, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪts/. graze is at rank #28,225, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪz/.
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 71900, this pair ranks #44,957 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of grates vs graze
Shared letters: aegr. Private to "grates": st. Private to "graze": z.
"grates" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "graze" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "grates" and "graze" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "grates" vs "graze" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "grates" and "graze" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "grates" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "graze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #44,957 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grates" and "graze" 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 #44,957 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.