grass

/ɡɹɑːs/

//ɡɹɑːs// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"grass" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“grass” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #3,758. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#3,758
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by leaves that arise from nodes in the stem and leaf bases that wrap around the stem, especially those grown as ground cover rather than for grain.

Corpus desk

Index EN-grass · grass · English

grass · rank #3,758 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #3,758
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH gifts

Nearest frequency peer: gifts (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Rank peers near misspelling magnet “grass”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “grass” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

grass vs gray
60% similar
grass vs guess
60% similar
grass vs gross
80% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for grass
PropertyValue
Headwordgrass
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɡɹɑːs/
Letters5
Frequency rank#3,758
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “grass”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).grasslands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “gifts” (#3,757), “hence” (#3,759), “forum” (#3,756). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “grass” is #3,758. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around grass (IPA /ɡɹɑːs/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #3,758 among 2,313 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 12 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for grass, with forms such as "garss", "ggrass", and "grrass". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "gray", "guess", "gross", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English gras, from Old English græs, from Proto-West Germanic *gras, from Proto-Germanic *grasą (“grass”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”). Cognates Cognate with Scots gress (“grass”), North Frisian gaars, geers, Gērs, gjars, gjas,… The correct English form is grass, spelled G-R-A-S-S.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by leaves that arise from nodes in the stem and leaf bases that wrap around the stem, especially those grown as ground cover rather than for grain.
  2. 2
    Any of the various plants that are not in the family Poaceae that resemble grasses.
  3. 3
    A lawn.
  4. 4
    The outside world, especially in the phrase "touch grass".
  5. 5
    Marijuana.
  6. 6
    An informer, police informer; one who betrays a group (of criminals, etc) to the authorities.
  7. 7
    Sharp, closely spaced discontinuities in the trace of a cathode-ray tube, produced by random interference.
  8. 8
    Noise on an A-scope or similar type of radar display.
  9. 9
    The season of fresh grass; spring or summer.
  10. 10
    That which is transitory.
  11. 11
    Asparagus; "sparrowgrass".
  12. 12
    The surface of a mine.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how grass appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Thou turnest man to destruction: and sayest, Returne yee children of men. / For a thousand yeeres in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past: and as a watch in the night. / Thou carriest them away as with a flood, they are as a sleepe: in the morning they are like grasse which groweth vp. / In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth vp: in the euen…
  2. The cicale above in the lime, / And the lizards below in the grass, / Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, / Listening to my sweet pipings.

Etymology

From Middle English gras, from Old English græs, from Proto-West Germanic *gras, from Proto-Germanic *grasą (“grass”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”). Cognates Cognate with Scots gress (“grass”), North Frisian gaars, geers, Gērs, gjars, gjas, gäärs (“grass”), Saterland Frisian Gäärs (“grass”), West Frisian gers (“grass”), Cimbrian gras, grass (“grass”), German and Luxembourgish Gras (“grass, weed”), Dutch gras (“grass, turf, pasture”), Mòcheno and Vilamovian gros (“grass”), West Flemish ges (“grass”), Yiddish גראָז (groz, “grass”), Danish græs (“grass”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian Nynorsk gras (“grass”), Norwegian Bokmål gras, gress (“grass”), Swedish gräs (“grass”), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌰𐍃 (gras, “herb”); also Latin herba (“plant, weed, grass”), Albanian grath (“grass blade, spike”). Related to grow, green. The "informer" sense is probably a shortening of grasshopper (“police officer, informant”), rhyming slang for copper (“police officer”) or shopper (“informant”); the exact sequence of derivation is unclear.

Synonyms

grass

This word in other languages

pasto(Español)herbe(Français)Gras(Deutsch)grama(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • garss
  • ggrass
  • grrass
  • grsas
  • rgass

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of grass - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

garss2ggrass1grrass1grsas2rgass2
Edit distance from "grass"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "grass"?
"grass" is spelled G-R-A-S-S. The IPA pronunciation is /ɡɹɑːs/.
What does "grass" mean?
As a noun, "grass" means: Any plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by leaves that arise from nodes in the stem and leaf bases that wrap around the stem, especially those grown as ground cover rather than for grain.
What words are commonly confused with "grass"?
"grass" is commonly confused with "gray", "guess", "gross". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "grass"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "grass" is /ɡɹɑːs/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "grass"?
From Middle English gras, from Old English græs, from Proto-West Germanic *gras, from Proto-Germanic *grasą (“grass”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”). Cognates Cognate with Scots gress (“grass”), North Frisian gaars, geers, Gērs, gj... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "grass", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

gifts#3,757hence#3,759forum#3,756lists#3,767

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

pace5 variantspope5 variantsAllen5 variantshook5 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list