groomsvsgrowsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: grooms is a noun, grows is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“grooms” is a noun and “grows” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,015
“grooms” frequency rank
#5,331
“grows” frequency rank
42346
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grooms grows
Definition plural of groom third-person singular simple present indicative of grow

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set grooms and grows apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
grooms
5 ch
grows

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grooms is /ɡɹuːmz/ while grows is /ɡɹəʊz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42346, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grooms is recorded at frequency rank #37,015, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹuːmz/. grows is at rank #5,331, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɡɹəʊz/.

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 42346, this pair ranks #250,077 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grooms vs grows

Shared letters: gors. Private to "grooms": m. Private to "grows": w.

"grooms" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "grows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • groomsggrooms · goroms · gromos · groms · groomms · groomss · groosm · grrooms
  • growsggrows · gorws · grosw · growss · growws · grrows · grwos · rgows

Frequency comparison

grooms#37,015
grows#5,331

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grooms" and "grows" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grooms" is a noun and "grows" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "grooms" or "grows"?
"grows" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,331 in our English list, against #37,015 for "grooms". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering grooms vs grows

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “grooms”; for a verb, it's “grows”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “grooms” 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