gravsgraffWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,481
“gra” frequency rank
#45,082
“graff” frequency rank
89563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gra graff
Definition Acte, action. Inscription calligraphiée ou dessin tracé, peint ou gravé sur un support inhabituel et qui a vocation artistique.

Where the eye mixes gra and graff

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
gra
5 ch
graff

Why the eye confuses gra with graff

A purely visual mix-up. gra (\ˈɡrɑː\) and graff (\ɡʁaf\) 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 extra letter(s) - “gra” sits inside “graff”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 89563, 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\. graff is at rank #45,082, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁaf\.

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 89563, this pair ranks #5,657 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gra vs graff

Shared letters: agr. Private to "gra": -. Private to "graff": f.

"gra" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "graff" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • graffgarff · ggraff · grfaf · grraff · rgaff

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gra" and "graff" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈɡrɑː\ versus \ɡʁaf\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gra" vs "graff" - which ranks higher?
"gra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #44,481 in our French list, against #45,082 for "graff". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "gra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "graff" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #5,657 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gra" and "graff" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gra vs gx". 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 #5,657 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