Which to use
“gratis” is an adjective and “greats” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,194
- “gratis” frequency rank
- #19,849
- “greats” frequency rank
- 51043
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gratis | greats |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Free: without charge. | plural of great |
Where the eye mixes gratis and greats
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gratis (CCVCVC) and greats (CCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between gratis and greats
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gratis is /ˈɡɹɑː.tɪs/ while greats is /ɡɹeɪts/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51043, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gratis is recorded at frequency rank #31,194, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡɹɑː.tɪs/. greats is at rank #19,849, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪts/.
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 51043, this pair ranks #168,884 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gratis vs greats
Shared letters: agrst. Private to "gratis": i. Private to "greats": e.
"gratis" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "greats" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gratis" and "greats" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "gratis" or "greats"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "gratis" and "greats" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gratis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "greats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #168,884 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gratis" and "greats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gratis vs grayish". 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 #168,884 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.