grillevsgrillsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,396
“grille” frequency rank
#32,420
“grills” frequency rank
57816
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grille grills
Definition Alternative form of grill (only in the senses of "grating over opening", "grating on the front of a vehicle", and "window divider") plural of grill

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
grille
6 ch
grills

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. grille (/ɡɹɪl/) and grills (/ɡɹɪlz/) 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 a single letter - e in “grille” becomes s in “grills”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57816, 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/. grills is at rank #32,420, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹɪlz/.

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 57816, this pair ranks #116,741 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of grille vs grills

Shared letters: gilr. Private to "grille": e. Private to "grills": s.

"grille" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "grills" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grilleggrille · girlle · grile · grilel · grlile · grrille · rgille
  • grillsggrills · grillss · grilsl · grlils · grrills · rgills

Frequency comparison

grille#25,396
grills#32,420

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grille" and "grills" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹɪl/ versus /ɡɹɪlz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "grille" or "grills"?
"grille" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,396 in our English list, against #32,420 for "grills". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering grille vs grills

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 “grille” 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