givevsgraveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: give is a verb, grave is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#11,276
“give” frequency rank
#2,096
“grave” frequency rank
13372
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature give grave
Definition dar som de baixa frequência, no limite inferior da audição humana

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set give and grave apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
give
5 ch
grave

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: give is averb and graveanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

give is recorded at frequency rank #11,276, classified as averb, pronounced /gɪv/. grave is at rank #2,096, tagged as anadj.

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 13372, this pair ranks #58,989 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of give vs grave

Shared letters: egv. Private to "give": i. Private to "grave": ar.

"give" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • giveggive · giev · givve · gvie · igve
  • gravegarve · ggrave · graev · gravve · grrave · grvae · rgave

Frequency comparison

give#11,276
grave#2,096

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "give" and "grave" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "give" is a verb and "grave" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "give" or "grave"?
"grave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,096 in our Portuguese list, against #11,276 for "give". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering give vs grave

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “give”; for an adjective, it's “grave”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “give” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list