Which to use
“gravy” and “graze” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,418
- “gravy” frequency rank
- #28,225
- “graze” frequency rank
- 43643
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gravy | graze |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A thick sauce made from the fat or juices that come out from meat or vegetables as they are being cooked. | The act of grazing; a scratching or injuring lightly on passing. |
Where the eye mixes gravy and graze
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gravy and graze follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: gravy vs graze
A purely visual mix-up. gravy (/ˈɡɹeɪvi/) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43643, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gravy is recorded at frequency rank #15,418, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɹeɪvi/. 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 43643, this pair ranks #238,014 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gravy vs graze
Shared letters: agr. Private to "gravy": vy. Private to "graze": ez.
"gravy" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "graze" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "gravy" and "graze" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "gravy" or "graze"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "gravy" and "graze" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gravy" 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 #238,014 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gravy" and "graze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glazer vs graze". 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 #238,014 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.