Which to use
“graze” is a noun and “grazed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,225
- “graze” frequency rank
- #33,259
- “grazed” frequency rank
- 61484
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | graze | grazed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The act of grazing; a scratching or injuring lightly on passing. | simple past and past participle of graze |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set graze and grazed apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: graze is /ɡɹeɪz/ while grazed is /ɡɹeɪzd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “graze” sits inside “grazed”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61484, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
graze is recorded at frequency rank #28,225, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹeɪz/. 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 61484, this pair ranks #93,989 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of graze vs grazed
Shared letters: aegrz. Private to "graze": -. Private to "grazed": d.
"graze" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "grazed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "graze" and "grazed" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "graze" or "grazed"?
Remembering graze vs grazed
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “graze”; for a verb, it's “grazed”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “graze” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable