Which to use
“grade” and “grass” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,705
- “grade” frequency rank
- #38,828
- “grass” frequency rank
- 45533
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | grade | grass |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Degré de dignité, d'honneur dans une hiérarchie. | Herbe. |
Where the eye mixes grade and grass
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses grade with grass
A purely visual mix-up. grade (\ɡʁad\) and grass (\ɡɹɑːs\) 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 45533, 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\. grass is at rank #38,828, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡɹɑːs\.
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 45533, this pair ranks #202,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of grade vs grass
Shared letters: agr. Private to "grade": de. Private to "grass": s.
"grade" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "grass" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "grade" for "grass" ever safe?
Frequency check: "grade" vs "grass" - which ranks higher?
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 "grade" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "grass" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #202,028 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "grade" and "grass" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "graf vs grass". 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 #202,028 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.