grãovsgratoWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,346
“grão” frequency rank
#8,345
“grato” frequency rank
16691
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grão grato
Definition forma reduzida de grande qualidade de quem tem gratidão, que está agradecido, reconhecido:

Where the eye mixes grão and grato

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

4 ch
grão
5 ch
grato

Why the eye confuses grão with grato

A purely visual mix-up. grão (/ˈɡɾɐ̃w̃/) and grato (/ˈɡɾa.tu/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16691, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grão is recorded at frequency rank #8,346, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡɾɐ̃w̃/. grato is at rank #8,345, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡɾa.tu/.

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 16691, this pair ranks #54,780 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grão vs grato

Shared letters: gor. Private to "grão": ã. Private to "grato": at.

"grão" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "grato" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gratogarto · ggrato · graot · gratto · grrato · grtao · rgato

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "grão" for "grato" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɡɾɐ̃w̃/ versus /ˈɡɾa.tu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "grão" vs "grato" - which ranks higher?
"grato" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,345 in our Portuguese list, against #8,346 for "grão". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grão" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grato" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #54,780 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grão" and "grato" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grão vs grip". 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 #54,780 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