gammevsgrammesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,880
“gamme” frequency rank
#8,860
“grammes” frequency rank
11740
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gamme grammes
Definition Ensemble des sept notes principales de la musique disposées selon leur ordre naturel dans l’intervalle d’une octave. Pluriel de gramme.

Where the eye mixes gamme and grammes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gamme runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against grammes's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
gamme
7 ch
grammes

Look-alike desk: gamme vs grammes

A purely visual mix-up. gamme (\ɡam\) and grammes (\ɡʁam\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11740, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gamme is recorded at frequency rank #2,880, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡam\. grammes is at rank #8,860, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁam\.

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 11740, this pair ranks #407,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of gamme vs grammes

Shared letters: aegm. Private to "gamme": -. Private to "grammes": rs.

"gamme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "grammes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gammeagmme · gamem · ggamme · gmame
  • grammesgarmmes · ggrammes · gramems · grames · grammess · grammse · grmames · grrammes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gamme" and "grammes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɡam\ versus \ɡʁam\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "gamme" or "grammes" show up more?
"gamme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,880 in our French list, against #8,860 for "grammes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gamme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grammes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #407,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gamme" and "grammes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Graeme vs grammes". 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 #407,996 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