gross vs growls, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“gross” is an adjective and “growls” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,305
“gross” frequency rank: #40,270
“growls” frequency rank: 43575
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	gross	growls
Definition	Highly or conspicuously offensive.	plural of growl

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

gross

6 ch

growls

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gross is /ɡɹəʊs/ while growls is /ɡɹaʊlz/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43575, 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/. growls is at rank #40,270, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹaʊlz/.

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 43575, this pair ranks #238,687 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gross vs growls

Shared letters: gors. Private to "gross": -. Private to "growls": lw.

"gross" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "growls" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

gross ← ggross · gorss · gros · grross · grsos · rgoss
growls ← ggrowls · gorwls · grolws · growlls · growlss · growsl · growwls · grrowls

Frequency comparison

gross#3,305

growls#40,270

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gross" and "growls" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gross" is an adjective and "growls" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "gross" or "growls"?

"gross" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,305 in our English list, against #40,270 for "growls". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering gross vs growls

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “gross”; for a noun, it's “growls”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gross” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable