grayvsgruaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,365
“gray” frequency rank
#47,917
“grua” frequency rank
58282
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gray grua
Definition unidade no Sistema Internacional de medidas, representado por Gy, que representa a quantidade de energia de radiação ionizante absorvida (ou dose) por unidade de massa, e é definido como a quantidade que deposita 1 joule (J) de energia por quilograma (kg) do meio absorvedor, sendo 1 Gy = 1 J/kg aparelho usado para levantar pesos

Where the eye mixes gray and grua

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

4 ch
gray
4 ch
grua

Look-alike desk: gray vs grua

A purely visual mix-up. gray (/'greɪ/) and grua (/ˈɡɾu.ɐ/) 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 58282, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gray is recorded at frequency rank #10,365, classified as anoun, pronounced /'greɪ/. grua is at rank #47,917, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɾu.ɐ/.

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 58282, this pair ranks #8,835 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gray vs grua

Shared letters: agr. Private to "gray": y. Private to "grua": u.

"gray" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "grua" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • graygary · ggray · grayy · grray · grya · rgay
  • gruaggrua · grrua · gura · rgua

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gray" for "grua" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/'greɪ/ versus /ˈɡɾu.ɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "gray" or "grua" show up more?
"gray" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,365 in our Portuguese list, against #47,917 for "grua". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gray" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #8,835 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gray" and "grua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grip 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 #8,835 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