Which to use
“goose” and “grosse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,978
- “goose” frequency rank
- #981
- “grosse” frequency rank
- 32959
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | goose | grosse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Oie. | Une douzaine de douzaines. |
Where the eye mixes goose and grosse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. goose runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against grosse's 6 (CCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses goose with grosse
A purely visual mix-up. goose (\ɡuːs\) and grosse (\ɡʁos\) 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 32959, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
goose is recorded at frequency rank #31,978, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡuːs\. grosse is at rank #981, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁos\.
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 32959, this pair ranks #293,823 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of goose vs grosse
Shared letters: egos. Private to "goose": -. Private to "grosse": r.
"goose" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "grosse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "goose" and "grosse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "goose" or "grosse"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "goose" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grosse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,823 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "goose" and "grosse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gods vs goose". 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 #293,823 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.