Which to use
“ground” and “groups” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #735
- “ground” frequency rank
- #786
- “groups” frequency rank
- 1521
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ground | groups |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The surface of the Earth, as opposed to the sky or water or underground. | plural of group |
Where the eye mixes ground and groups
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ground vs groups
A purely visual mix-up. ground (/ɡɹaʊnd/) and groups (/ɡɹuːps/) 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 1521, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ground is recorded at frequency rank #735, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹaʊnd/. groups is at rank #786, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹuːps/.
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 1521, this pair ranks #527,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ground vs groups
Shared letters: goru. Private to "ground": dn. Private to "groups": ps.
"ground" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC · "groups" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ground" and "groups" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "ground" or "groups" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ground" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "groups" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #527,258 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ground" and "groups" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gronk vs ground". 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 #527,258 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.