Which to use
“grill” and “grips” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,049
- “grill” frequency rank
- #15,623
- “grips” frequency rank
- 24672
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grill | grips |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A grating; a grid of wire or a sheet of material with a pattern of holes or slots, usually used to protect something while allowing the passage of air and liquids. Typical uses: to allow air through a fan while preventing fingers or objects from passing; to allow people to talk to somebody, while preventing attack. | plural of grip |
Where the eye mixes grill and grips
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: grill vs grips
A purely visual mix-up. grill (/ɡɹɪl/) and grips (/ɡɹɪps/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24672, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grill is recorded at frequency rank #9,049, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹɪl/. grips is at rank #15,623, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹɪps/.
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 24672, this pair ranks #400,254 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grill vs grips
Shared letters: gir. Private to "grill": l. Private to "grips": ps.
"grill" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "grips" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "grill" and "grips" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "grill" or "grips" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "grill" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grips" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,254 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grill" and "grips" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gramps vs grips". 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 #400,254 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.