Which to use
“glu” and “gué” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,358
- “glu” frequency rank
- #24,618
- “gué” frequency rank
- 71976
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | glu | gué |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Colle végétale extraite du houx, du gui, des baies de genêt, dont on se sert surtout pour prendre les oiseaux. | Endroit d’une rivière, d’un fleuve où l’eau est assez basse et le fond assez ferme pour qu’on puisse traverser à pied. |
Where the eye mixes glu and gué
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. glu (CCV) and gué (CVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: glu vs gué
A purely visual mix-up. glu (\ɡly\) and gué (\ɡe\) 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 71976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
glu is recorded at frequency rank #47,358, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡly\. gué is at rank #24,618, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡe\.
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 71976, this pair ranks #45,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of glu vs gué
Shared letters: gu. Private to "glu": l. Private to "gué": é.
"glu" · 3 letters · shape CCV · "gué" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "glu" for "gué" ever safe?
Which is more common, "glu" or "gué"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "glu" and "gué" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "glu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #45,636 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "glu" and "gué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "glu vs glue". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #45,636 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.