griffevsGrippeTell them apart

Quick tell: griffe is a verb, Grippe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“griffe” is a verb and “Grippe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,574
“griffe” frequency rank
#11,664
“Grippe” frequency rank
44238
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature griffe Grippe
Definition 1. Person Singular Konjunktiv II Präteritum Aktiv des Verbs greifen akute, fieberhafte Virusinfektion, vorwiegend mit Entzündung der Atemwege, welche endemisch, epidemisch oder pandemisch auftritt und durch das Influenzavirus verursacht wird

Where the eye mixes griffe and Grippe

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

6 ch
griffe
6 ch
Grippe

Look-alike desk: griffe vs Grippe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: griffe is [ˈɡʁɪfə] while Grippe is [ˈɡʁɪpə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44238, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

griffe is recorded at frequency rank #32,574, classified as averb, pronounced [ˈɡʁɪfə]. Grippe is at rank #11,664, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɡʁɪpə].

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 44238, this pair ranks #1,392,536 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of griffe vs Grippe

Shared letters: egir. Private to "griffe": f. Private to "Grippe": p.

"griffe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV  ·  "Grippe" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • griffeggriffe · girffe · grfife · grife · grifef · grriffe · rgiffe
  • Grippeggrippe · girppe · gripe · gripep · grpipe · grrippe · rgippe

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "griffe" for "Grippe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "griffe" is a verb and "Grippe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "griffe" vs "Grippe" - which ranks higher?
"Grippe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,664 in our German list, against #32,574 for "griffe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "griffe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Grippe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,392,536 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "griffe" and "Grippe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "griffe vs Grille". 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 #1,392,536 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list