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 eye mixes graze and grazed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. graze runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against grazed's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: graze vs grazed
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "graze" and "grazed" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "graze" vs "grazed" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "graze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grazed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,989 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "graze" and "grazed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glazer vs grazed". 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 #93,989 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.