Which to use
“gross” is an adjective and “grosse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,305
- “gross” frequency rank
- #41,160
- “grosse” frequency rank
- 44465
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gross | grosse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Highly or conspicuously offensive. | Obsolete spelling of gross. |
Letter map: gross vs grosse
Shared letters muted; letters that set gross and grosse apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. gross runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against grosse's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: gross vs grosse
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: gross is anadjective and grosseanoun. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “gross” sits inside “grosse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gross is recorded at frequency rank #3,305, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɡɹəʊs/. grosse is at rank #41,160, tagged as anoun.
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 44465, this pair ranks #230,288 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gross vs grosse
Shared letters: gors. Private to "gross": -. Private to "grosse": e.
"gross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "grosse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gross" for "grosse" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "gross" or "grosse" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've compared "gross" and "grosse". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "gross" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grosse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #230,288 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gross" and "grosse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grosse 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 #230,288 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.