Which to use
“gear” is a verb and “grão” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,339
- “gear” frequency rank
- #8,346
- “grão” frequency rank
- 32685
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gear | grão |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | cair geada | forma reduzida de grande |
Where the eye mixes gear and grão
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: gear vs grão
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gear is /ʒe.ˈaɾ/, /ʒe.ˈa/ while grão is /ˈɡɾɐ̃w̃/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32685, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gear is recorded at frequency rank #24,339, classified as averb, pronounced /ʒe.ˈaɾ/, /ʒe.ˈa/. grão is at rank #8,346, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡɾɐ̃w̃/.
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 32685, this pair ranks #35,044 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gear vs grão
Shared letters: gr. Private to "gear": ae. Private to "grão": oã.
"gear" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "grão" · 4 letters · shape CCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- gear ← egar · gaer · gera · ggear
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "gear" and "grão" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "gear" vs "grão" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "gear" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grão" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #35,044 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gear" and "grão" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gear vs Guam". 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 #35,044 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.