Which to use
“glace” is a noun and “grave” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,954
- “glace” frequency rank
- #965
- “grave” frequency rank
- 2919
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | glace | grave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | ou Eau à l’état solide. | Qui peut avoir des conséquences fâcheuses, profondes. |
Where the eye mixes glace and grave
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between glace and grave
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: glace is \ɡlas\ while grave is \ɡʁav\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
glace is recorded at frequency rank #1,954, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡlas\. grave is at rank #965, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁav\.
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 2919, this pair ranks #435,206 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of glace vs grave
Shared letters: aeg. Private to "glace": cl. Private to "grave": rv.
"glace" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "grave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "glace" for "grave" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "glace" or "grave" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "glace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,206 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "glace" and "grave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glace 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 #435,206 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.