gramavsgraxaTell them apart

Which to use

“grama” and “graxa” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,662
“grama” frequency rank
#36,045
“graxa” frequency rank
42707
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grama graxa
Definition planta rasteira da família das gramíneas mistura de corantes com gordura para dar lustro ao cabedal

Where the eye mixes grama and graxa

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. grama and graxa follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
grama
5 ch
graxa

Visual trap between grama and graxa

A purely visual mix-up. grama (/ˈgɾã.ma/) and graxa (/ˈɡɾa.ʃɐ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - m in “grama” becomes x in “graxa”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grama is recorded at frequency rank #6,662, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈgɾã.ma/. graxa is at rank #36,045, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɾa.ʃɐ/.

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 42707, this pair ranks #23,037 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grama vs graxa

Shared letters: agr. Private to "grama": m. Private to "graxa": x.

"grama" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "graxa" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grama ← garma · ggrama · graam · gramma · grmaa · grrama · rgama
  • graxa ← garxa · ggraxa · graax · graxxa · grraxa · grxaa · rgaxa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grama" and "graxa" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈgɾã.ma/ versus /ˈɡɾa.ʃɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "grama" or "graxa" show up more?
"grama" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,662 in our Portuguese list, against #36,045 for "graxa". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "grama" and "graxa" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grama" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "graxa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #23,037 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grama" and "graxa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "graxa vs grua". 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 #23,037 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list