grew vs grog, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“grew” is a verb and “grog” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,072
“grew” frequency rank: #44,236
“grog” frequency rank: 46308
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	grew	grog
Definition	simple past of grow	An alcoholic beverage made with rum and water, especially that once issued to sailors of the Royal Navy.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set grew and grog apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

grew

4 ch

grog

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grew is /ɡɹuː/ while grog is /ɡɹɒɡ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46308, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grew is recorded at frequency rank #2,072, classified as averb, pronounced /ɡɹuː/. grog is at rank #44,236, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹɒɡ/.

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 46308, this pair ranks #212,997 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grew vs grog

Shared letters: gr. Private to "grew": ew. Private to "grog": o.

"grew" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "grog" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

grew ← gerw · ggrew · greww · grrew · grwe · rgew
grog ← ggrog · gorg · grgo · grogg · grrog · rgog

Frequency comparison

grew#2,072

grog#44,236

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grew" and "grog" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grew" is a verb and "grog" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "grew" or "grog"?

"grew" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,072 in our English list, against #44,236 for "grog". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering grew vs grog

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “grew”; for a noun, it's “grog”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “grew” entry
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