Which to use
“gland” is a noun and “grand” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,145
- “gland” frequency rank
- #136
- “grand” frequency rank
- 17281
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gland | grand |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fruit du chêne, akène logé dans une cupule. | De dimensions (hauteur/taille, longueur, profondeur, etc.) importantes, qui dépassent celles de ses semblables, ou de longue durée. Par exemple, de volume supérieur à la moyenne (ou normale) des individus de même espèce et sexe et d’âge similaire. |
Where the eye mixes gland and grand
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses gland with grand
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gland is \ɡlɑ̃\ while grand is \ɡʁɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “gland” becomes r in “grand”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17281, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gland is recorded at frequency rank #17,145, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡlɑ̃\. grand is at rank #136, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁɑ̃\.
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 17281, this pair ranks #383,925 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of gland vs grand
Shared letters: adgn. Private to "gland": l. Private to "grand": r.
"gland" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "grand" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gland" for "grand" ever safe?
Frequency check: "gland" vs "grand" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "gland" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grand" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,925 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gland" and "grand" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gland vs glane". 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 #383,925 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.