GlasvsgrauWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,969
“Glas” frequency rank
#41,808
“grau” frequency rank
70777
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Glas grau
Definition Verre, la matière (sans ou avec pluriel, cf. note et exemples). Chenal qui relie une étendue d’eau à la mer.

Where the eye mixes Glas and grau

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Glas (CCVC) and grau (CCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

4 ch
Glas
4 ch
grau

Look-alike desk: Glas vs grau

A purely visual mix-up. Glas (\ˈɡlaːs\) and grau (\ɡʁo\) 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 70777, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Glas is recorded at frequency rank #28,969, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈɡlaːs\. grau is at rank #41,808, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁo\.

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 70777, this pair ranks #50,070 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Glas vs grau

Shared letters: ag. Private to "Glas": ls. Private to "grau": ru.

"Glas" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "grau" · 4 letters · shape CCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Glas ← gals · gglas · gllas · glsa · lgas
  • grau ← garu · ggrau · grrau · grua · rgau

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Glas" and "grau" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈɡlaːs\ versus \ɡʁo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Glas" vs "grau" - which ranks higher?
"Glas" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,969 in our French list, against #41,808 for "grau". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "Glas" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grau" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #50,070 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Glas" and "grau" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grau vs grow". 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 #50,070 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