aggravevsagrafeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“aggrave” and “agrafe” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#18,927
“aggrave” frequency rank
#48,312
“agrafe” frequency rank
67239
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aggrave agrafe
Definition Seconde fulmination solennelle d’un monitoire. Petit accessoire métallique servant à réunir deux éléments d’un même objet.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aggrave and agrafe apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
aggrave
6 ch
agrafe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. aggrave (\a.ɡʁav\) and agrafe (\a.ɡʁaf\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67239, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aggrave is recorded at frequency rank #18,927, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ɡʁav\. agrafe is at rank #48,312, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.ɡʁaf\.

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 67239, this pair ranks #64,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aggrave vs agrafe

Shared letters: aegr. Private to "aggrave": v. Private to "agrafe": f.

"aggrave" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV  ·  "agrafe" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aggraveaggarve · aggraev · aggravve · aggrrave · aggrvae · agrave · agrgave · gagrave
  • agrafeagarfe · aggrafe · agraef · agraffe · agrfae · agrrafe · argafe · garafe

Frequency comparison

aggrave#18,927
agrafe#48,312

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aggrave" and "agrafe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.ɡʁav\ versus \a.ɡʁaf\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aggrave" or "agrafe"?
"aggrave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,927 in our French list, against #48,312 for "agrafe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering aggrave vs agrafe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “aggrave” 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