grevevsgreyWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: greve is a noun, grey is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“greve” is a noun and “grey” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,406
“greve” frequency rank
#9,689
“grey” frequency rank
13095
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature greve grey
Definition paralisação das atividades de uma escola, fábrica, etc enquanto os alunos ou funcionários esperam que suas reivindicações sejam atendidas pela diretoria do estabelecimento cinza, cinzento

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set greve and grey apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
greve
4 ch
grey

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: greve is /ˈɡɾɛ.vɨ/ while grey is /'greɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13095, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

greve is recorded at frequency rank #3,406, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɡɾɛ.vɨ/. grey is at rank #9,689, tagged as anadj, pronounced /'greɪ/.

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 13095, this pair ranks #59,352 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of greve vs grey

Shared letters: egr. Private to "greve": v. Private to "grey": y.

"greve" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "grey" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grevegerve · ggreve · greev · grevve · grreve · grvee · rgeve
  • greygery · ggrey · greyy · grrey · grye · rgey

Frequency comparison

greve#3,406
grey#9,689

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "greve" and "grey" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "greve" is a noun and "grey" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "greve" or "grey"?
"greve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,406 in our Portuguese list, against #9,689 for "grey". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering greve vs grey

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “greve”; for an adjective, it's “grey”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “greve” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list