grue

\ɡʁy\

/\ɡʁy\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“grue” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #16,633. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#16,633
frequency rank, French
2,617
“G” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Gros oiseau voyageur, de l’ordre des Échassiers, qui vole fort haut et par bandes.

Corpus desk

Index FR-grue · grue · French

grue · rank #16,633 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #16,633
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,617
  • PHOTO-FINISH goûte

Nearest frequency peer: goûte (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « grue »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « grue » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

grue vs guy
50% similar
grue vs gun
50% similar
grue vs gus
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for grue
PropertyValue
Headwordgrue
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɡʁy\
Letters4
Frequency rank#16,633
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « grue »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).gruese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « goûte » (#16,632), « guet » (#16,634), « gaming » (#16,631). Parmi 2,617 lemmes en « G », « grue » est au #16,633. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around grue (IPA \ɡʁy\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #16,633 among 2,617 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for grue, with forms such as "ggrue", "greu", and "grrue". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "guy", "gun", "gus", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is grue, spelled G-R-U-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Gros oiseau voyageur, de l’ordre des Échassiers, qui vole fort haut et par bandes.
  2. 2
    Machine de levage et de manutention réservé aux lourdes charges sur des chantiers.
  3. 3
    Prostituée, femme dissolue.
  4. 4
    Meuble représentant l’animal du même nom dans les armoiries. Elle est généralement représentée de profil, ailes repliées, debout sur sa patte senestre, la dextre étant repliée et saisissant un globe ou une pierre sphérique appelée vigilance. À rapprocher de héron.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how grue appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. La grue a le bec et le cou fort longs.
  2. La grue craque, glapit, gruit ou gruine.

This word in other languages

crane(English)grulla(Español)Kranich(Deutsch)grou(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ggrue
  • greu
  • grrue
  • gure
  • rgue

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of grue - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ggrue1greu2grrue1gure2rgue2
Edit distance from "grue"

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 "grue"?
"grue" is spelled G-R-U-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɡʁy\.
What does "grue" mean?
As a noun, "grue" means: Gros oiseau voyageur, de l’ordre des Échassiers, qui vole fort haut et par bandes.
What words are commonly confused with "grue"?
"grue" is commonly confused with "guy", "gun", "gus". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "grue"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "grue" is \ɡʁy\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "grue" come from?
"grue" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "grue", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

guet#16,634hate#16,638ever#16,615Enzo#16,612

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).

Isis5 variantsdana5 variantsémue5 variantsJedi5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list