# grade

> English word · Noun · IPA /ɡɹeɪd/ · frequency rank #1,660

## Definitions
1. A rating.
2. Performance on a test or other evaluation(s), expressed by a number, letter, or other symbol; a score.
3. A degree or level of something; a position within a scale; a degree of quality.
4. Degree (any of the three stages (positive, comparative, superlative) in the comparison of an adjective or an adverb).
5. A slope (up or down) of a roadway or other passage
6. A level of primary and secondary education.
7. A student of a particular grade (used with the grade level).
8. An area that has been flattened by a grader (construction machine).
9. The level of the ground.
10. A gradian.
11. In a linear system of divisors on an n-dimensional variety, the number of free intersection points of n generic divisors.
12. A harsh scraping or cutting; a grating.
13. A taxon united by a level of morphological or physiological complexity that is not a clade.
14. The degree of malignity of a tumor expressed on a scale.
15. An eyeglass prescription.

## Etymology
Borrowed from Middle French grade (“a grade, degree”), from Latin gradus (“a step, pace, degree”), from Proto-Italic *graðus, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰradʰ-, *gʰredʰ- (“to walk, go”). Doublet of gradus.
Cognate with Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌹𐌸𐍃 (griþs, “step, grade”), Bavarian Gritt (“step, stride”), Lithuanian gri̇̀diju (“to go, wander”).

## Easily confused with
- **GRE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-gre)
- **gray** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-gray)
- **grid** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-grid)
- **gram** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-gram)
- **gran** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-gran)
- **Gras** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-gras)
- **Graf** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-graf)
- **grand** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-grand)
- **guide** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-guide)
- **grant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-grant)
- **grass** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-grass)
- **grave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-grave)
- **grain** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-grain)
- **graph** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-graph)
- **grasp** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-grasp)
- **grove** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-grove)
- **grams** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-grams)
- **grape** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-grape)
- **gravy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-gravy)
- **graft** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/grade-vs-graft)

## Common misspellings (7)
`garde`, `ggrade`, `gradde`, `graed`, `grdae`, `grrade`, `rgade`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/grade