Which to use
“grâce” and “grimace” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #417
- “grâce” frequency rank
- #21,333
- “grimace” frequency rank
- 21750
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grâce | grimace |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qui plaît dans les attitudes, les manières, les discours : Un certain agrément, un certain charme indéfinissable. | Contorsion du visage faite souvent à dessein. |
Where the eye mixes grâce and grimace
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. grâce runs 5 letters (CCVCV) against grimace's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses grâce with grimace
A purely visual mix-up. grâce (\ɡʁɑs\) and grimace (\ɡʁi.mas\) 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 21750, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
grâce is recorded at frequency rank #417, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɑs\. grimace is at rank #21,333, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁi.mas\.
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 21750, this pair ranks #361,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of grâce vs grimace
Shared letters: cegr. Private to "grâce": â. Private to "grimace": aim.
"grâce" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "grimace" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- grimace ← ggrimace · girmace · griamce · grimacce · grimaec · grimcae · grimmace · grmiace
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "grâce" for "grimace" ever safe?
Frequency check: "grâce" vs "grimace" - which ranks higher?
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 "grimace" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #361,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grâce" and "grimace" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grimace vs grince". 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 #361,608 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.