gravsgrâceWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#44,481
“gra” frequency rank
#417
“grâce” frequency rank
44898
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gra grâce
Definition Acte, action. Ce qui plaît dans les attitudes, les manières, les discours : Un certain agrément, un certain charme indéfinissable.

Where the eye mixes gra and grâce

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
gra
5 ch
grâce

Look-alike desk: gra vs grâce

A purely visual mix-up. gra (\ˈɡrɑː\) and grâce (\ɡʁɑs\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44898, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gra is recorded at frequency rank #44,481, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈɡrɑː\. grâce is at rank #417, tagged as anoun, 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 44898, this pair ranks #206,966 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gra vs grâce

Shared letters: gr. Private to "gra": a. Private to "grâce": ceâ.

"gra" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "grâce" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "gra" for "grâce" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ˈɡrɑː\ versus \ɡʁɑs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gra" or "grâce"?
"grâce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #417 in our French list, against #44,481 for "gra". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "gra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grâce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #206,966 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gra" and "grâce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gra vs gx". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #206,966 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