grève
\ɡʁɛv\
The verdict
“grève” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #2,479 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,479
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Terrain uni et sablonneux le long de la mer ou d’une grande rivière.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | grève |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɡʁɛv\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #2,479 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “grève” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for grève is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɡʁɛv\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,479 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for grève, with forms such as "ggrève", "greve", and "grrève". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "grey", "grue", "guère", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is grève, spelled G-R-È-V-E.
Definition
- 1Terrain uni et sablonneux le long de la mer ou d’une grande rivière.
- 2Banc de sable qui se forme dans la Loire, et que le courant porte tantôt d’un côté, tantôt d’un autre.
- 3Le gros sable qui sert à faire du béton ou du mortier.
- 4La place de Grève, à Paris, dont les habitués étaient connus pour leur langage cru et grossier.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ggrève,greve,grrève,grvèe,grèev,grèvve,gèrve,rgève
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of grève - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "grève"?
What does "grève" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "grève"?
How do you pronounce "grève"?
What language does "grève" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “grève”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is G-R-È-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɡʁɛv\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “grey” - see the side-by-side comparison. grève vs grey
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.