Which to use
“grocer” and “grocery” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,573
- “grocer” frequency rank
- #6,473
- “grocery” frequency rank
- 35046
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grocer | grocery |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A person who retails groceries (foodstuffs and household items) from a grocery. | Retail foodstuffs and other household supplies. |
Where the eye mixes grocer and grocery
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. grocer runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against grocery's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses grocer with grocery
A purely visual mix-up. grocer (/ˈɡɹəʊ.sə/) and grocery (/ˈɡɹəʊ.s(ə.)ɹi/) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “grocer” sits inside “grocery”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35046, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grocer is recorded at frequency rank #28,573, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɹəʊ.sə/. grocery is at rank #6,473, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɹəʊ.s(ə.)ɹi/.
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 35046, this pair ranks #315,366 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of grocer vs grocery
Shared letters: cegor. Private to "grocer": -. Private to "grocery": y.
"grocer" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "grocery" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "grocer" and "grocery" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "grocer" vs "grocery" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "grocer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grocery" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,366 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grocer" and "grocery" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grocer vs grosser". 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 #315,366 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.