groundvsgrundyWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“ground” and “grundy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#735
“ground” frequency rank
#35,319
“grundy” frequency rank
36054
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ground grundy
Definition The surface of the Earth, as opposed to the sky or water or underground. A narrow-minded person or group that is overly concerned with censoring or criticizing personal conduct.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ground and grundy apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
ground
6 ch
grundy

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ground (/ɡɹaʊnd/) and grundy (/ˈɡɹʌn.di/) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ground is recorded at frequency rank #735, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɡɹaʊnd/. grundy is at rank #35,319, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɹʌn.di/.

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 36054, this pair ranks #306,569 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ground vs grundy

Shared letters: dgnru. Private to "ground": o. Private to "grundy": y.

"ground" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "grundy" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • groundgground · gorund · gronud · groudn · groundd · grounnd · grround · gruond
  • grundyggrundy · grnudy · grrundy · grudny · grunddy · grundyy · grunndy · grunyd

Frequency comparison

ground#735
grundy#35,319

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ground" and "grundy" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɡɹaʊnd/ versus /ˈɡɹʌn.di/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ground" or "grundy"?
"ground" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #735 in our English list, against #35,319 for "grundy". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ground vs grundy

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ground” 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