grey
/ɡɹeɪ/adjective, verb, noun
grey is spelled G-R-E-Y: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 30 times per million words in written English, the 3,114th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “gray vs grey” about 49,500 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, grey means “Commonwealth standard spelling of gray” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in grey?
| Letters | 4: G-R-E-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 30 times per million words; the 3,114th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is grey?
Grey appears 30 times per million words in written English, the 3,114th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce grey?
- US /ɡɹeɪ/
Grey has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-grey.ogg, En-us-gray.ogg, En-us-grey.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with grey
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with grey?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as grey from its last stressed vowel (/eɪ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: gyre.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of grey
- greyer comparative
- more grey comparative
- greyest superlative
- most grey superlative
- greys present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- greying participle, present
- greyed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does grey mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
- 2
slangSynonym of coloured (pertaining to the mixed race of black and white).
verb
- 1
Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
noun
- 1
Commonwealth standard spelling of gray.
noun
- 1
UKA member of the Royal Scots Greys, a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1707 to 1971.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate grey?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of grey: gry.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does grey come from?
From Middle English grey, from Old English grēġ (Anglian). The spelling grey reflects the Anglian vowel development, whereas the variant gray stems from the West Saxon form grǣġ (through Middle English gray).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).