gagnevsgraineWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,594
“gagne” frequency rank
#11,419
“graine” frequency rank
13013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gagne graine
Definition Esprit de compétition, énergie qui fait qu’on se surpasse pour emporter la victoire. Organe reproducteur des spermaphytes, formé par l’ovule fécondé et arrivé à maturité, contenant un embryon avec des réserves nutritives et protégé par un tégument.

Where the eye mixes gagne and graine

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gagne runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against graine's 6 (CCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
gagne
6 ch
graine

Look-alike desk: gagne vs graine

A purely visual mix-up. gagne (\ɡaɲ\) and graine (\ɡʁɛn\) 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 13013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gagne is recorded at frequency rank #1,594, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡaɲ\. graine is at rank #11,419, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɛn\.

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 13013, this pair ranks #402,790 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gagne vs graine

Shared letters: aegn. Private to "gagne": -. Private to "graine": ir.

"gagne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "graine" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gagneaggne · gagen · gaggne · gagnne · ggagne · ggane
  • grainegarine · ggraine · graien · grainne · granie · griane · grraine · rgaine

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gagne" for "graine" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɡaɲ\ versus \ɡʁɛn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gagne" or "graine"?
"gagne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,594 in our French list, against #11,419 for "graine". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "gagne" and "graine" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gagne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "graine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #402,790 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gagne" and "graine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Graeme vs graine". 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 #402,790 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list