grâcevsgrèveConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#417
“grâce” frequency rank
#2,479
“grève” frequency rank
2896
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grâce grève
Definition Ce qui plaît dans les attitudes, les manières, les discours : Un certain agrément, un certain charme indéfinissable. Terrain uni et sablonneux le long de la mer ou d’une grande rivière.

Where the eye mixes grâce and grève

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

5 ch
grâce
5 ch
grève

Visual trap between grâce and grève

A purely visual mix-up. grâce (\ɡʁɑs\) and grève (\ɡʁɛv\) 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 2896, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grâce is recorded at frequency rank #417, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɑs\. grève is at rank #2,479, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɛv\.

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 2896, this pair ranks #435,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grâce vs grève

Shared letters: egr. Private to "grâce": . Private to "grève": .

"grâce" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "grève" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "grâce" for "grève" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁɑs\ versus \ɡʁɛv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "grâce" vs "grève" - which ranks higher?
"grâce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #417 in our French list, against #2,479 for "grève". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "grâce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grève" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #435,260 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grâce" and "grève" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Graeme vs grève". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #435,260 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