groanedvsgroupedWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#42,165
“groaned” frequency rank
#14,552
“grouped” frequency rank
56717
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature groaned grouped
Definition simple past and past participle of groan simple past and past participle of group

Where the eye mixes groaned and grouped

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
groaned
7 ch
grouped

Why the eye confuses groaned with grouped

A purely visual mix-up. groaned (/ɡɹəʊnd/) and grouped (/ɡɹuːpt/) 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 56717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

groaned is recorded at frequency rank #42,165, classified as averb, pronounced /ɡɹəʊnd/. grouped is at rank #14,552, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɡɹuːpt/.

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 56717, this pair ranks #124,231 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of groaned vs grouped

Shared letters: degor. Private to "groaned": an. Private to "grouped": pu.

"groaned" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "grouped" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • groanedggroaned · goraned · graoned · groaend · groande · groanedd · groanned · gronaed
  • groupedggrouped · goruped · gropued · grouepd · groupde · groupedd · groupped · grrouped

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "groaned" for "grouped" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹəʊnd/ versus /ɡɹuːpt/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "groaned" or "grouped" show up more?
"grouped" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,552 in our English list, against #42,165 for "groaned". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "groaned" and "grouped" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "groaned" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grouped" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #124,231 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "groaned" and "grouped" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "groaned vs grooved". 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 #124,231 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list