grandevsguardeWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: grande is a adjective, guarde is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#353
“grande” frequency rank
#13,262
“guarde” frequency rank
13615
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grande guarde
Definition Superior en tamaño a un determinado patrón tomado como medida. Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de guardar o de guardarse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set grande and guarde apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
grande
6 ch
guarde

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grande is [ˈgɾãn̪d̪e] while guarde is [ˈgwaɾð̞e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13615, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grande is recorded at frequency rank #353, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈgɾãn̪d̪e]. guarde is at rank #13,262, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈgwaɾð̞e].

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 13615, this pair ranks #287,184 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grande vs guarde

Shared letters: adegr. Private to "grande": n. Private to "guarde": u.

"grande" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "guarde" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grandegarnde · ggrande · gradne · grandde · graned · grannde · grnade · grrande
  • guardegaurde · gguarde · guadre · guardde · guared · guarrde · gurade · ugarde

Frequency comparison

grande#353
guarde#13,262

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grande" and "guarde" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grande" is an adjective and "guarde" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "grande" or "guarde"?
"grande" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #353 in our Spanish list, against #13,262 for "guarde". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering grande vs guarde

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “grande”; for a verb, it's “guarde”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “grande” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list