Which to use
“grays” and “graze” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,740
- “grays” frequency rank
- #28,225
- “graze” frequency rank
- 63965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grays | graze |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of gray | The act of grazing; a scratching or injuring lightly on passing. |
Same sound, different letters: grays vs graze
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. grays (CCVVC) and graze (CCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Ear matches; page differs - grays and graze
This is the hard kind. grays and graze are pronounced identically (/ɡɹeɪz/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grays is recorded at frequency rank #35,740, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪz/. 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 63965, this pair ranks #80,168 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of grays vs graze
Shared letters: agr. Private to "grays": sy. Private to "graze": ez.
"grays" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC · "graze" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "grays" for "graze" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "grays" or "graze" show up more?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "grays" / "graze". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "grays" 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 #80,168 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grays" and "graze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grasse vs grays". 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 #80,168 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.