gratovsgraveTell them apart

Which to use

“grato” and “grave” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#25,292
“grato” frequency rank
#1,637
“grave” frequency rank
26929
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grato grave
Definition Que provoca agrado, complacencia o gusto. De gran importancia o con consecuencias serias.

Where the eye mixes grato and grave

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
grato
5 ch
grave

Why the eye confuses grato with grave

A purely visual mix-up. grato ([ˈgɾat̪o]) and grave ([ˈgɾaβ̞e]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26929, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grato is recorded at frequency rank #25,292, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈgɾat̪o]. 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 26929, this pair ranks #229,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grato vs grave

Shared letters: agr. Private to "grato": ot. Private to "grave": ev.

"grato" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gratogarto · ggrato · graot · gratto · grrato · grtao · rgato
  • gravegarve · ggrave · graev · gravve · grrave · grvae · rgave

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "grato" and "grave" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈgɾat̪o] versus [ˈgɾaβ̞e]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "grato" vs "grave" - which ranks higher?
"grave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,637 in our Spanish list, against #25,292 for "grato". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grato" 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 #229,258 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grato" and "grave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grana vs grato". 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 #229,258 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