galevsgréConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#20,452
“gale” frequency rank
#5,767
“gré” frequency rank
26219
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gale gré
Definition Maladie parasitaire causée par le sarcopte, cutanée et contagieuse de l’homme et des animaux, caractérisée chez l’homme par une éruption de vésicules transparentes à leur sommet, qui se développent principalement au pli des articulations, et qui sont toujours accompagnées de démangeaison. Volonté, caprice, fantaisie.

Where the eye mixes gale and gré

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
gale
3 ch
gré

Look-alike desk: gale vs gré

A purely visual mix-up. gale (\ɡal\) and gré (\ɡʁe\) 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 26219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gale is recorded at frequency rank #20,452, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡal\. gré is at rank #5,767, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁe\.

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 26219, this pair ranks #336,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gale vs gré

Shared letters: g. Private to "gale": ael. Private to "gré": .

"gale" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "gré" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • galeagle · gael · ggale · glae

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gale" and "gré" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɡal\ versus \ɡʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gale" vs "gré" - which ranks higher?
"gré" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,767 in our French list, against #20,452 for "gale". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gré" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #336,399 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gale" and "gré" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gale vs glue". 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 #336,399 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