Which to use
“grave” and “graves” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,239
- “grave” frequency rank
- #8,672
- “graves” frequency rank
- 12911
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grave | graves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An excavation in the earth as a place of burial. | plural of grave |
Where the eye mixes grave and graves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. grave (/ɡɹeɪv/) and graves (/ɡɹeɪvz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “grave” sits inside “graves”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12911, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grave is recorded at frequency rank #4,239, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪv/. graves is at rank #8,672, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪvz/.
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 12911, this pair ranks #478,825 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grave vs graves
Shared letters: aegrv. Private to "grave": -. Private to "graves": s.
"grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "graves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC