gratovsgregoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,345
“grato” frequency rank
#5,103
“grego” frequency rank
13448
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grato grego
Definition qualidade de quem tem gratidão, que está agradecido, reconhecido: relativo à Grécia ou a seus habitantes

Where the eye mixes grato and grego

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. grato and grego follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

5 ch
grato
5 ch
grego

Why the eye confuses grato with grego

A purely visual mix-up. grato (/ˈɡɾa.tu/) and grego (/ˈgɾe.gu/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13448, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grato is recorded at frequency rank #8,345, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈɡɾa.tu/. grego is at rank #5,103, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈgɾe.gu/.

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 13448, this pair ranks #58,888 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grato vs grego

Shared letters: gor. Private to "grato": at. Private to "grego": e.

"grato" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "grego" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grato ← garto · ggrato · graot · gratto · grrato · grtao · rgato
  • grego ← gergo · ggrego · greggo · greog · grgeo · grrego · rgego

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "grato" for "grego" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɡɾa.tu/ versus /ˈgɾe.gu/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "grato" vs "grego" - which ranks higher?
"grego" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,103 in our Portuguese list, against #8,345 for "grato". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grato" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grego" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #58,888 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grato" and "grego" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "GOAT vs grato". 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 #58,888 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