grabevsgraveWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: grabe is a verb, grave is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“grabe” is a verb and “grave” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,533
“grabe” frequency rank
#1,637
“grave” frequency rank
37170
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grabe grave
Definition Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de grabar. De gran importancia o con consecuencias serias.

Same sound, different letters: grabe vs grave

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.

5 ch
grabe
5 ch
grave

Same sound, different spelling - grabe / grave

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: grabe and grave carry the same recorded pronunciation, [ˈgɾaβ̞e]. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - b in “grabe” becomes v in “grave”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37170, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grabe is recorded at frequency rank #35,533, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈgɾaβ̞e]. grave is at rank #1,637, tagged as anadj, pronounced [ˈgɾaβ̞e].

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 37170, this pair ranks #176,736 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grabe vs grave

Shared letters: aegr. Private to "grabe": b. Private to "grave": v.

"grabe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grabegarbe · ggrabe · grabbe · graeb · grbae · grrabe · rgabe
  • gravegarve · ggrave · graev · gravve · grrave · grvae · rgave

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grabe" and "grave" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grabe" is a verb and "grave" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "grabe" or "grave" show up more?
"grave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,637 in our Spanish list, against #35,533 for "grabe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grabe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,736 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grabe" and "grave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grabe vs grana". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #176,736 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list