grátisvsgrisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#4,237
“grátis” frequency rank
#42,486
“gris” frequency rank
46723
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grátis gris
Definition gratuito; sem remuneração; de graça cinza, cinzento

Where the eye mixes grátis and gris

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
grátis
4 ch
gris

Visual trap between grátis and gris

A purely visual mix-up. grátis (/ˈɡɾa.t͡ʃis/) and gris (/gris/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46723, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grátis is recorded at frequency rank #4,237, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡɾa.t͡ʃis/. gris is at rank #42,486, tagged as anadj, pronounced /gris/.

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 46723, this pair ranks #18,584 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of grátis vs gris

Shared letters: girs. Private to "grátis": . Private to "gris": -.

"grátis" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "gris" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grisggris · girs · griss · grris · grsi · rgis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grátis" and "gris" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɡɾa.t͡ʃis/ versus /gris/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "grátis" or "gris"?
"grátis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,237 in our Portuguese list, against #42,486 for "gris". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "grátis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gris" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,584 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grátis" and "gris" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grip vs gris". 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 #18,584 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