grau vs graxa, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,014
“grau” frequency rank: #36,045
“graxa” frequency rank: 38059
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	grau	graxa
Definition	unidade de ângulo	mistura de corantes com gordura para dar lustro ao cabedal

Letter map: grau vs graxa

Shared letters muted; letters that set grau and graxa apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch

grau

5 ch

graxa

Pair insight - grau / graxa

grau and graxa are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grau is recorded at frequency rank #2,014, classified as anoun. 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 38059, this pair ranks #28,458 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grau vs graxa

Shared letters: agr. Private to "grau": u. Private to "graxa": x.

"grau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV · "graxa" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

grau ← garu · ggrau · grrau · rgau
graxa ← garxa · ggraxa · graax · graxxa · grraxa · grxaa · rgaxa

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grau" and "graxa" be used interchangeably?

No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

Which is more common, "grau" or "graxa"?

"grau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,014 in our Portuguese list, against #36,045 for "graxa". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "grau" and "graxa".

Full dictionary entry for "grau" 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 #28,458 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"grau" 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 #28,458 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.