Which to use
“grates” is a noun and “grazed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,675
- “grates” frequency rank
- #33,259
- “grazed” frequency rank
- 76934
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grates | grazed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of grate | simple past and past participle of graze |
Where the eye mixes grates and grazed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: grates vs grazed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grates is /ɡɹeɪts/ while grazed is /ɡɹeɪzd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76934, 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/. 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 76934, this pair ranks #28,718 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of grates vs grazed
Shared letters: aegr. Private to "grates": st. Private to "grazed": dz.
"grates" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "grazed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "grates" and "grazed" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "grates" or "grazed" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "grates" 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 #28,718 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grates" and "grazed" 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 #28,718 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.