Which to use
“gelée” and “gemme” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,394
- “gelée” frequency rank
- #35,963
- “gemme” frequency rank
- 49357
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gelée | gemme |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Froid qui glace l’eau et qui rend les corps plus rigides. | Pierre fine, pierre précieuse, pierre ornementale ou synthétique répondant à des critères de dureté, d’éclat, de couleur et de transparence. |
Where the eye mixes gelée and gemme
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gelée (CVCVV) and gemme (CVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between gelée and gemme
A purely visual mix-up. gelée (\ʒə.le\) and gemme (\ʒɛm\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49357, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gelée is recorded at frequency rank #13,394, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒə.le\. gemme is at rank #35,963, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒɛm\.
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 49357, this pair ranks #171,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gelée vs gemme
Shared letters: eg. Private to "gelée": lé. Private to "gemme": m.
"gelée" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "gemme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- gemme ← egmme · geme · gemem · ggemme · gmeme
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gelée" for "gemme" ever safe?
Frequency check: "gelée" vs "gemme" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "gelée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gemme" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gelée" and "gemme" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gégé vs gemme". 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 #171,360 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.