Which to use
“grille” is a noun and “grilled” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,396
- “grille” frequency rank
- #11,037
- “grilled” frequency rank
- 36433
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grille | grilled |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alternative form of grill (only in the senses of "grating over opening", "grating on the front of a vehicle", and "window divider") | simple past and past participle of grill |
Where the eye mixes grille and grilled
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. grille runs 6 letters (CCVCCV) against grilled's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between grille and grilled
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grille is /ɡɹɪl/ while grilled is /ɡɹɪld/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “grille” sits inside “grilled”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36433, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grille is recorded at frequency rank #25,396, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹɪl/. grilled is at rank #11,037, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɡɹɪld/.
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 36433, this pair ranks #303,263 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of grille vs grilled
Shared letters: egilr. Private to "grille": -. Private to "grilled": d.
"grille" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "grilled" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "grille" for "grilled" ever safe?
Frequency check: "grille" vs "grilled" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "grille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grilled" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #303,263 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grille" and "grilled" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grille vs grimly". 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 #303,263 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.