gra vs grave, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“gra” is a noun and “grave” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#44,481
“gra” frequency rank: #965
“grave” frequency rank: 45446
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	gra	grave
Definition	Acte, action.	Qui peut avoir des conséquences fâcheuses, profondes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gra and grave apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

gra

5 ch

grave

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gra is \ˈɡrɑː\ while grave is \ɡʁav\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “gra” sits inside “grave”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45446, 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\. grave is at rank #965, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁav\.

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 45446, this pair ranks #202,647 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gra vs grave

Shared letters: agr. Private to "gra": -. Private to "grave": ev.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

grave ← garve · ggrave · graev · gravve · grrave · grvae · rgave

Frequency comparison

gra#44,481

grave#965

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gra" and "grave" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gra" is a noun and "grave" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "gra" or "grave"?

"grave" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #965 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.

Remembering gra vs grave

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “gra”; for an adjective, it's “grave”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gra” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable