grisvsguisaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: gris is a adjective, guisa is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“gris” is an adjective and “guisa” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,846
“gris” frequency rank
#40,328
“guisa” frequency rank
44174
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gris guisa
Definition De color entre blanco y negro. :* Color: . Modo, manera o semejanza de una cosa.

Where the eye mixes gris and guisa

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

4 ch
gris
5 ch
guisa

Why the eye confuses gris with guisa

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gris is [ˈgɾis] while guisa is [ˈgisa]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44174, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gris is recorded at frequency rank #3,846, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈgɾis]. guisa is at rank #40,328, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈgisa].

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 44174, this pair ranks #138,532 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gris vs guisa

Shared letters: gis. Private to "gris": r. Private to "guisa": au.

"gris" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "guisa" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grisggris · girs · griss · grris · grsi · rgis
  • guisagguisa · giusa · guias · guissa · gusia · ugisa

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gris" for "guisa" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gris" is an adjective and "guisa" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gris" or "guisa"?
"gris" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,846 in our Spanish list, against #40,328 for "guisa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gris" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "guisa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #138,532 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gris" and "guisa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "guild vs guisa". 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 #138,532 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