gravsguéWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,481
“gra” frequency rank
#24,618
“gué” frequency rank
69099
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gra gué
Definition Acte, action. Endroit d’une rivière, d’un fleuve où l’eau est assez basse et le fond assez ferme pour qu’on puisse traverser à pied.

Where the eye mixes gra and gué

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
gra
3 ch
gué

Look-alike desk: gra vs gué

A purely visual mix-up. gra (\ˈɡrɑː\) and gué (\ɡe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69099, 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\. gué is at rank #24,618, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡe\.

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 69099, this pair ranks #56,477 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gra vs gué

Shared letters: g. Private to "gra": ar. Private to "gué": .

"gra" · 3 letters · shape CCV  ·  "gué" · 3 letters · shape CVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gra" and "gué" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ˈɡrɑː\ versus \ɡe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "gra" or "gué"?
"gué" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,618 in our French list, against #44,481 for "gra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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 "gué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,477 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gra" and "gué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gra vs gx". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #56,477 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