grâcesvsgruesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#17,441
“grâces” frequency rank
#24,989
“grues” frequency rank
42430
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grâces grues
Definition Jeu des grâces. Pluriel de grue.

Where the eye mixes grâces and grues

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. grâces runs 6 letters (CCVCVC) against grues's 5 (CCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
grâces
5 ch
grues

Look-alike desk: grâces vs grues

A purely visual mix-up. grâces (\ɡʁɑs\) and grues (\ɡʁy\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42430, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grâces is recorded at frequency rank #17,441, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁɑs\. grues is at rank #24,989, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁy\.

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 42430, this pair ranks #225,648 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of grâces vs grues

Shared letters: egrs. Private to "grâces": câ. Private to "grues": u.

"grâces" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "grues" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • grues ← ggrues · greus · grrues · gruess · gruse · gures · rgues

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "grâces" and "grues" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɡʁɑs\ versus \ɡʁy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "grâces" or "grues"?
"grâces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,441 in our French list, against #24,989 for "grues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "grâces" and "grues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grâces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "grues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #225,648 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grâces" and "grues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Gruber vs grues". 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 #225,648 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