gommesvsgrammesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#39,322
“gommes” frequency rank
#8,860
“grammes” frequency rank
48182
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gommes grammes
Definition Pluriel de gomme. Pluriel de gramme.

Where the eye mixes gommes and grammes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gommes runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against grammes's 7 (CCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
gommes
7 ch
grammes

Why the eye confuses gommes with grammes

A purely visual mix-up. gommes (\ɡɔm\) and grammes (\ɡʁam\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gommes is recorded at frequency rank #39,322, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡɔm\. grammes is at rank #8,860, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁam\.

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 48182, this pair ranks #180,964 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gommes vs grammes

Shared letters: egms. Private to "gommes": o. Private to "grammes": ar.

"gommes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "grammes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gommes ← ggommes · gmomes · gomems · gommess · gommse · ogmmes
  • grammes ← garmmes · ggrammes · gramems · grames · grammess · grammse · grmames · grrammes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gommes" and "grammes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɡɔm\ versus \ɡʁam\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gommes" or "grammes"?
"grammes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,860 in our French list, against #39,322 for "gommes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "gommes" and "grammes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gommes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grammes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #180,964 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gommes" and "grammes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gomis vs gommes". 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 #180,964 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