Which to use
“grey” is an adjective and “greys” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,105
- “grey” frequency rank
- #34,904
- “greys” frequency rank
- 38009
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grey | greys |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Commonwealth standard spelling of gray. | Grey trousers and/or jackets worn by prisoners on relatively formal occasions. |
Letter map: grey vs greys
Shared letters muted; letters that set grey and greys apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.
Part-of-speech tell for grey / greys
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: grey is anadjective and greysanoun. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “grey” sits inside “greys”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38009, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grey is recorded at frequency rank #3,105, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɡɹeɪ/. greys is at rank #34,904, tagged as anoun.
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 38009, this pair ranks #289,633 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of grey vs greys
Shared letters: egry. Private to "grey": -. Private to "greys": s.
"grey" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "greys" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "grey" and "greys" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "grey" or "greys"?
What to do next
Pair "grey" vs "greys" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "grey" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "greys" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #289,633 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grey" and "greys" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "greyish vs greys". 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 #289,633 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.