gravavsgravarTell them apart

Quick tell: grava is a noun, gravar is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“grava” is a noun and “gravar” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,800
“grava” frequency rank
#33,634
“gravar” frequency rank
57434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grava gravar
Definition Piedra machacada (o la arena más gruesa, que la mayor es de río) con que se cubre y allana el piso de los caminos, las calles de los jardines, etc. Cargar, pesar sobre una persona o cosa.

Where the eye mixes grava and gravar

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. grava runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against gravar's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
grava
6 ch
gravar

Look-alike desk: grava vs gravar

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grava is [ˈgɾaβ̞a] while gravar is [gɾaˈβ̞aɾ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “grava” sits inside “gravar”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grava is recorded at frequency rank #23,800, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈgɾaβ̞a]. gravar is at rank #33,634, tagged as averb, pronounced [gɾaˈβ̞aɾ].

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 57434, this pair ranks #70,518 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of grava vs gravar

Shared letters: agrv. Private to "grava": -. Private to "gravar": -.

"grava" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "gravar" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grava ← garva · ggrava · graav · gravva · grrava · grvaa · rgava
  • gravar ← garvar · ggravar · graavr · gravarr · gravra · gravvar · grravar · grvaar

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "grava" and "gravar" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grava" is a noun and "gravar" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "grava" vs "gravar" - which ranks higher?
"grava" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,800 in our Spanish list, against #33,634 for "gravar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grava" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gravar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #70,518 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grava" and "gravar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grammar vs gravar". 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 #70,518 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