gradevsGrasTell them apart

Quick tell: grade is a noun, Gras is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“grade” is a noun and “Gras” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,705
“grade” frequency rank
#3,680
“Gras” frequency rank
10385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature grade Gras
Definition Degré de dignité, d'honneur dans une hiérarchie. Nom de famille.

Where the eye mixes grade and Gras

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

5 ch
grade
4 ch
Gras

Visual trap between grade and Gras

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: grade is \ɡʁad\ while Gras is \ɡʁa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

grade is recorded at frequency rank #6,705, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁad\. Gras is at rank #3,680, tagged as aname, pronounced \ɡʁa\.

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 10385, this pair ranks #413,192 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of grade vs Gras

Shared letters: agr. Private to "grade": de. Private to "Gras": s.

"grade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "Gras" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gradeggrade · gradde · graed · grdae · grrade · rgade
  • Grasggras · grras · grsa · rgas

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "grade" for "Gras" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "grade" is a noun and "Gras" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "grade" vs "Gras" - which ranks higher?
"Gras" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,680 in our French list, against #6,705 for "grade". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "grade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Gras" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #413,192 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "grade" and "Gras" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "grade vs Graeme". 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 #413,192 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