gradué vs graduée, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#44,482
“gradué” frequency rank: #40,294
“graduée” frequency rank: 84776
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	gradué	graduée
Definition	Sur lequel sont portées des marques à intervalles réguliers afin de permettre la mesure.	Féminin singulier de gradué.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set gradué and graduée apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

gradué

7 ch

graduée

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. gradué and graduée are pronounced identically (\ɡʁa.dɥe\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “gradué” sits inside “graduée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gradué is recorded at frequency rank #44,482, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁa.dɥe\. graduée is at rank #40,294, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁa.dɥe\.

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 84776, this pair ranks #12,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of gradué vs graduée

Shared letters: adgrué. Private to "gradué": -. Private to "graduée": e.

"gradué" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV · "graduée" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVV

Frequency comparison

gradué#44,482

graduée#40,294

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gradué" and "graduée" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\ɡʁa.dɥe\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "gradué" or "graduée"?

"graduée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #40,294 in our French list, against #44,482 for "gradué". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering gradué vs graduée

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gradué” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable