grouse
/ɡɹaʊs/
"grouse" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“grouse” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #24,178 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #24,178
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of various game birds of the subfamily Tetraoninae which inhabit temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere; specifically, the red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica) native to hea...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | grouse |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ɡɹaʊs/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #24,178 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “grouse” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for grouse is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɡɹaʊs/. Corpus data places it at rank #24,178 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for grouse, with forms such as "ggrouse", "goruse", and "grosue". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "grows", "grove", "grout", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Attested in the 1530s, as grows ("moorhen"), a plural used collectively. The origin of the noun is unknown; the following derivations have been suggested: * From Old French grue (“crane”) (modern French grue) or Medieval Latin gruta (“crane”), both from Lat… The correct English form is grouse, spelled G-R-O-U-S-E.
Definition
- 1Any of various game birds of the subfamily Tetraoninae which inhabit temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere; specifically, the red grouse (Lagopus lagopus scotica) native to heather moorland on the British Isles.
- 2The flesh or meat of this bird eaten as food.
Etymology
Attested in the 1530s, as grows ("moorhen"), a plural used collectively. The origin of the noun is unknown; the following derivations have been suggested: * From Old French grue (“crane”) (modern French grue) or Medieval Latin gruta (“crane”), both from Latin grūs (“crane”). * Borrowed from Celtic or a different Medieval Latin word. * Imitative of the bird’s call. The verb is derived from the noun.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ggrouse,goruse,grosue,groues,grousse,grrouse,gruose,rgouse
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of grouse - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "grouse"?
What does "grouse" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "grouse"?
How do you pronounce "grouse"?
What is the origin of the word "grouse"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “grouse”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is G-R-O-U-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɡɹaʊs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “grows” - see the side-by-side comparison. grouse vs grows
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.