greetvsgreetsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#10,708
“greet” frequency rank
#24,770
“greets” frequency rank
35478
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature greet greets
Definition To welcome in a friendly manner, either in person or through another means such as writing. third-person singular simple present indicative of greet

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set greet and greets apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
greet
6 ch
greets

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. greet (/ɡɹiːt/) and greets (/ɡɹiːts/) 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 extra letter(s) - “greet” sits inside “greets”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35478, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

greet is recorded at frequency rank #10,708, classified as averb, pronounced /ɡɹiːt/. greets is at rank #24,770, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɡɹiːts/.

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 35478, this pair ranks #311,584 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of greet vs greets

Shared letters: egrt. Private to "greet": -. Private to "greets": s.

"greet" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "greets" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • greetgeret · ggreet · greett · gret · grete · grreet · rgeet
  • greetsgerets · ggreets · greest · greetss · greetts · gretes · grets · grreets

Frequency comparison

greet#10,708
greets#24,770

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "greet" and "greets" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹiːt/ versus /ɡɹiːts/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "greet" or "greets"?
"greet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,708 in our English list, against #24,770 for "greets". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering greet vs greets

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 “greet” 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