Which to use
“gousse” is a noun and “grasse” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,314
- “gousse” frequency rank
- #7,967
- “grasse” frequency rank
- 49281
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gousse | grasse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fruit sec, dépourvu de cloison, à deux valves, garnies chacune d’une rangée de graines, et avec deux fentes de déhiscence (mot utilisé notamment pour les fruits des légumineuses). | Féminin singulier de gras. |
Where the eye mixes gousse and grasse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gousse (CVVCCV) and grasse (CCVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses gousse with grasse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gousse is \ɡus\ while grasse is \ɡʁɑs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49281, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gousse is recorded at frequency rank #41,314, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡus\. grasse is at rank #7,967, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁɑs\.
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 49281, this pair ranks #171,955 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gousse vs grasse
Shared letters: egs. Private to "gousse": ou. Private to "grasse": ar.
"gousse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "grasse" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "gousse" and "grasse" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "gousse" or "grasse" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "gousse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grasse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,955 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gousse" and "grasse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gauss vs gousse". 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 #171,955 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.