grazevsgreaseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“graze” and “grease” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,225
“graze” frequency rank
#10,855
“grease” frequency rank
39080
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature graze grease
Definition The act of grazing; a scratching or injuring lightly on passing. Animal fat in a melted or soft state.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set graze and grease apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
graze
6 ch
grease

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. graze (/ɡɹeɪz/) and grease (/ɡɹis/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39080, 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/. grease is at rank #10,855, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹis/.

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 39080, this pair ranks #279,989 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of graze vs grease

Shared letters: aegr. Private to "graze": z. Private to "grease": s.

"graze" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "grease" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grazegarze · ggraze · graez · grazze · grraze · grzae · rgaze
  • greasegerase · ggrease · graese · greaes · greasse · gresae · grrease · rgease

Frequency comparison

graze#28,225
grease#10,855

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "graze" and "grease" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹeɪz/ versus /ɡɹis/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "graze" or "grease"?
"grease" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,855 in our English list, against #28,225 for "graze". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering graze vs grease

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • 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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list