Which to use
“gaffes” and “griffes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,285
- “gaffes” frequency rank
- #12,588
- “griffes” frequency rank
- 52873
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gaffes | griffes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de gaffe. | Pluriel de griffe. |
Where the eye mixes gaffes and griffes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gaffes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against griffes's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: gaffes vs griffes
A purely visual mix-up. gaffes (\ɡaf\) and griffes (\ɡʁif\) 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 52873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gaffes is recorded at frequency rank #40,285, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡaf\. griffes is at rank #12,588, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁif\.
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 52873, this pair ranks #144,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gaffes vs griffes
Shared letters: efgs. Private to "gaffes": a. Private to "griffes": ir.
"gaffes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "griffes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "gaffes" and "griffes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "gaffes" or "griffes"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "gaffes" and "griffes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gaffes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "griffes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #144,668 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gaffes" and "griffes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gaffes vs gifles". 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 #144,668 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.