Which to use
“gradué” and “graduel” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,482
- “gradué” frequency rank
- #43,963
- “graduel” frequency rank
- 88445
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gradué | graduel |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sur lequel sont portées des marques à intervalles réguliers afin de permettre la mesure. | Qui va par degrés. |
Where the eye mixes gradué and graduel
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. gradué runs 6 letters (CCVCVV) against graduel's 7 (CCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses gradué with graduel
A purely visual mix-up. gradué (\ɡʁa.dɥe\) and graduel (\ɡʁad.ɥɛl\) 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 88445, 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\. graduel is at rank #43,963, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡʁad.ɥɛl\.
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 88445, this pair ranks #6,982 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of gradué vs graduel
Shared letters: adgru. Private to "gradué": é. Private to "graduel": el.
"gradué" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV · "graduel" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- graduel ← garduel · ggraduel · gradduel · gradeul · graduell · gradule · graudel · grdauel
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gradué" for "graduel" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "gradué" or "graduel" show up more?
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 "gradué" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "graduel" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #6,982 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gradué" and "graduel" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gradué 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 #6,982 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.